ill 


A    HISTORY    OF 

AMERICAN   LITERATURE 

WITH   A  VIEW   TO  THE 

FUNDAMENTAL     PRINCIPLES     UNDERLYING 
ITS    DEVELOPMENT 

A    TEXT-BOOK    FOB    SCHOOLS    AND    COLLEGES 


BY 

FRED   LEWIS   PATTEE 

PROFESSOR  OF  THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE  AND  LITERATURE 
IN  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  STATE  COLLEGE 


New  Edition,  Revised  and  Enlarged 


SILVER,   BURDETT   AND   COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  BOSTON  CHICAGO 


COPYRIGHT,  1896,  1903,  1909, 

BY  SILVER,  BURDETT  &  COMPANY. 

b 


PREFACE   TO   THE   REVISED   EDITION. 


AN  honest  text-book  must  be  in  a  constant  state  of 
revision.  No  branch  of  learning  ever  stands  still.  New 
discoveries,  new  developments,  wider  investigation, 
more  modern  methods  constantly  are  pushing  out  the 
frontiers  of  the  subject,  and  the  student  deserves  the 
latest  and  best.  This  is  especially  true  of  a  text-book 
dealing  with  literary  history.  Very  much  has  happened 
since  1896,  when  the  present  survey  of  American 
writers  was  first  issued.  It  is  almost  appalling,  for  in- 
stance, to  think  of  the  death-list  of  the  seven  years : 
William  Ellery  Channing,  H.  C.  Bunner,  Justin  Winsor, 
John  Fiske,  Margaret  Preston,  Maurice  Thompson, 
Charles  A.  Dana,  Nora  Perry,  Charles  Dudley  Warner, 
Edward  Eggleston,  Paul  Leicester  Ford,  Horace  E. 
Scudder,  Blanche  Willis  Howard,  Bret  Harte,  Frank  R. 
Stockton,  C.  G.  Leland,  Mary  H.  Gather  wood,  Harold 
Frederick,  Edward  Bellamy,  G.  P.  Lathrop,  R.  H.  Stod- 
dard,  to  mention  them  as  they  come  to  mind,  are  only 
the  beginning  of  the  list.  This  in  itself  is  enough  to 
call  for  a  revision  of  our  work.  Then,  too,  other 
writers  of  note  have  arisen ;  many  who  were  merely 

iii 

40229i) 


v  PREFACE. 

authors  is  imperative  if  one  would  understand  a  litera- 
ture. The  text-book  that  does  not  emphasize  this  and 
aim  merely  to  guide  the  student  and  supplement  his 
efforts  is  superfluous.  The  conning  of  names  and  dates, 
of  details  and  characteristics,  of  criticisms  of  books  that 
the  pupil  has  never  seen,  if  not  supplemented  by  copious 
draughts  from  the  living  fountain  heads,  can  but  result 
in  mental  stagnation  and  a  loathing  of  the  entire  sub- 
ject. 

Throughout  this  work  the  author  has  endeavored  to 
follow  the  development  of  the  American  spirit  and  of 
American  thought  under  the  agencies  of  race,  environ- 
ment, epoch,  and  personality.  He  has  recognized  that 
the  literature  of  a  nation  is  closely  entwined  with  its 
history,  both  civil  and  religious.  As  far  as  possible  he 
has  made  the  authors  speak  for  themselves,  and  he  has 
supplemented  his  own  estimates  by  frequent  criticisms 
from  the  highest  authorities;  but  in  presenting  these 
criticisms  he  has  not  aimed  to  do  the  student's  work  for 
him,  nor  to  furnish  ready-made  estimates  for  him  to 
commit  to  memory  without  having  examined  the  works 
criticised;  but,  rather,  to  provide  information  that 
should  lead  to  an  intelligent  study  of  the  author  or 
book  in  hand. 

This  book  implies  other  books.  It  should  not  be 
taught  without  them.  If  the  school  library  is  deficient, 
they  may  be  had  from  some  private  or  public  collection. 
Some  of  the  more  important  works,  as  those  of  Irving, 


PREFACE.  vii 

Bryant,  Emerson,  Longfellow,  Whittier,  Holmes,  and 
the  like,  may  surely  be  procured  by  any  class.  The 
amount  of  reading  done  must,  necessarily,  depend  upon 
the  length  of  the  course  and  the  nature  of  the  class. 
The  directions  as  to  what  books  shall  be  read  are 
largely  suggestive.  Much  must  be  left  to  the  judg- 
ment of  the  teacher,  with  whom,  indeed,  it  rests 
whether  the  study  shall  be  helpful  and  stimulating  or 
dry  and  lifeless. 

The  author  gratefully  acknowledges  his  obligations 
to  Messrs.  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.,  Messrs.  G.  P.  Put- 
nam's Sons,  Messrs.  Flood  &  Vincent,  and  Messrs. 
Lee  &  Shepard,  who  have  permitted  the  use  of  ex- 
tracts  from  their  copyrighted  works,  and  to  all  others 
who  have  in  any  way  aided  in  the  preparation  of  the 

volume. 

F.  L.  P. 

STATE  COLLEGE,  PA., 
January,  1896. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


[See  general  index  at  the  end  of  the  volume.] 


PA9K 

BOOKS  OF  REFERENCE  .        . xiii 

CHAPTER  I. 
INTRODUCTORY      .  .......        1 


CHAPTER  H. 
THE  FIRST  COLONIAL  PERIOD 


CHAPTER  IIL 
THE  SECOND  COLONIAL  PERIOD  ......      38 

CHAPTER  IV. 
BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN    .        . 53 

CHAPTER  V. 
THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD     ......      62 

CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  SONG  AND  ROMANCE  OF  THE  REVOLUTION         •        .      90 

CHAPTER  VII. 
THE  FIRST  CREATIVE  PERIOD 106 

CHAPTER  VIH. 
WASHINGTON  IRVING 112 

ix 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IX. 
THE  NOVELISTS 134 

CHAPTER  X. 
THE  POETS .    154 

CHAPTER  XI. 
EDGAR  ALLAN  POE 172 

CHAPTER  XH. 
THE  ORATORS 183 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
THE  SECOND  CREATIVE  PERIOD 195 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
THE  UNITARIAN  LEADERS 204 

CHAPTER  XV. 
THE  TRANSCENDENTALISTS  (1)    ......    208 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
THE  TRANSCENDENTALISTS  (2) 221 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
THE  TRANSCENDENTALISTS  (3)    ......    228 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE 240 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS  (1)  ,        ,        .    257 


CONTENTS.  Xl 

CHAPTER  XX. 

PAGM 

THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS  (2) 274 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS  (3) 288 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
THE  HISTORIANS 303 

CHAPTER  XXHI. 
THE  ANTISLAVERY  LEADERS t    324 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
THE  DIFFUSIVE  PERIOD 345 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
THE  LATER  POETS  (1) 351 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 
THE  LATER  POETS  (2) .876 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

POETS  OF  THE  SOUTH  AND  WEST        .        .        .        •        .    385 

I 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
WOMAN  IN  LITERATURE 402 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 
THE  LATER  NOVELISTS         .        .        .        .        .        .        .    422 

CHAPTER  XXX. 
THE  HUMORISTS   .  448 


BOOKS  OF  REFERENCE. 


UNITED  STATES  HISTORY. 

Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  1492-1789. 

Hildreth's  History  of  the  United  States,  1492-1820. 

Cooke's  Virginia. 

Fiske's  Beginnings  of  New  England. 

Parkman's  France  and  England  in  North  America. 

Fiske's  American  Revolution. 

Fiske's  Critical  Period  of  American  History,  1783-1789. 

Schouler's  History  of  the  United  States,  1783-1861. 

McMaster's  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,  1783-1861 

Adams'  History  of  the  United  States,  1801-1817. 

Benton's  Thirty  Years'  View,  1820-1850. 

Drake's  Making  of  the  Great  West. 

Roosevelt's  Winning  of  the  West. 

Greeley's  American  Conflict. 

Davis'  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Confederacy. 

Nicolay  and  Hay's  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Elaine's  Twenty  Years  in  Congress,  1862-1882. 

Andrews'  History  of  Our  Own  Day,  1869-1895. 

LITERARY   HISTORY  AND  CRITICISM. 

Welsh's  English  Literature  and  Language. 

Taine's  English  Literature. 

Tyler's  American  Literature. 

Richardson's  American  Literature. 

Stedman's  Poets  of  America. 

Whipple's  American  Literature,  Essays  and  Reviewi. 

Nichol's  American  Literature. 

Beers'  Outline  Sketch  of  American  Literature. 

White's  Philosophy  of  American  Literature. 

Curtis'  Literary  and  Social  Essays. 

Higginson's  Short  Studies  of  American  Authors. 

Smyth's  American  Literature. 


xiv  BOOKS  OF  REFERENCE. 

Lowell's  A  Fable  for  Critics,  Among  My  Books. 

Whittier's  Literary  Recreations. 

Haweis'  American  Humorists. 

Julian  Hawthorne's  Confessions  and  Criticisms. 

Stewart's  Evenings  in  a  Library. 

Deshler's  Afternoons  with  the  Poets. 

Scudder's  Men  and  Letters. 

Vedder's  American  Writers  of  To-day. 

Tappan's  Topical  Notes  on  American  Authors. 

BIOGRAPHY. 

Warner,  Editor,  American  Men  of  Letters  Series. 

Morse,  Editor,  American  Statesman  Series. 

Whipple's  Recollections  of  Eminent  Men. 

Curtis'  Homes  of  American  Authors. 

S.  K.  Bolton's  Famous  American  Authors. 

Franklin's  Autobiography  completed  by  Bigelow. 

Irving's  Life  of  Washington. 

Tyler's  Three  Men  of  Letters. 

Irving's  Life  of  Irving. 

Godwin's  Life  of  Bryant. 

Cabot's  Life  of  Emerson. 

Hawthorne's  Nathaniel  Hawthorne  and  his  Wife. 

Longfellow's  Life  of  Longfellow. 

Pickard's  Life  of  Whittier. 

Morse's  Life  of  Holmes. 

GENERAL  AUTHORITIES   AND  COLLECTIONS. 

Stedman  and  Hutchinson's  Library  of  American  Literature. 

Poole's  Index  to  Magazine  Literature. 

Appleton's  Cyclopaedia  of  Biography. 

Allibone's  Dictionary  of  Authors. 

Adams'  Handbook  of  American  Authors. 

Smith's  Synopsis  of  English  and  American  Literature. 

Beers'  Century  of  American  Literature. 

Cleveland's  Handbook  of  American  Literature. 

Underwood's  Builders  of  American  Literature. 

Johnson's  American  Orations. 


AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

DEFINITION.  — "  Literature  is  the  class  of  writings  distinguished 
for  beauty  of  style  or  expression,  as  poetry,  essays,  or  history,  in 
distinction  from  scientific  treatises  and  works  which  contain  positive 
knowledge. ' '  —  Webster. 

THE  literature  of  a  nation  is  the  entire  body  of 
literary  productions  that  has  emanated  from  the  people 
of  the  nation  during  its  history,  preserved  by  the  arts  of 
writing  and  printing.  It  is  the  embodiment  of  the  best 
thoughts  and  fancies  of  a  people. 

The  History  of  a  Literature  is  not  merely  a  chrono- 
logical record  of  all  the  writers  and  writings  of  a  lan- 
guage. It  is  much  more ;  it  is,  in  reality,  the  history  of 
the  evolution  of  the  language  and  of  the  intellectual 
development  of  the  people.  It  should  constantly  in- 
quire into  the  causes  that  tended  to  produce  literature 
of  one  kind  and  not  of  another.  It  should  trace  the 
influence  of  great  writers  upon  their  language  and  their 
times.  It  should  be  a  guide,  ever  leading  the  student 
to  the  best  books,  training  his  judgment  so  as  to  enable 
him  to  estimate  critically  literary  productions,  and 
»  1 


LITERATURE. 

teaching  him  the  true  place  that  every  book  and  author 
occupies  in  the  world  of  letters. 

Fundamental  Principles.  —  To  pursue  the  study  of  a 
literature  to  the  best  advantage  one  needs  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  language,  history,  social  customs,  and 
spirit  of  the  people  that  produced  it,  as  well  as  a  general 
idea  of  the  geography  and  climate  of  their  country. 

The  great  agencies  which  determine  the  character  of 
a  literature  must  be  borne  constantly  in  mind : 

1.  Race.  —  The  hereditary  disposition  of  the  makers 
of  the  literature  must  first  be  noted.    The  races  inhabit- 
ing the  warmer  climates  are  naturally  impulsive,  with 
strong  passions.     The  northern  races  are  more  cold  and 
reserved.     These  characteristics  are  stamped  upon  the 
literary  product  of  these  races. 

2.  Environment.  —  The  surroundings  of  a  people  have 
a   great  effect  upon   their    intellectual    development. 
What  of  the   climate?     Is  the  land  fertile  and  easy 
to  work,  or  does  it  compel  the  husbandman  to  expend 
great  energy   upon   it?     Is    it   subject   to   depressing 
fogs,  like  Britain,  or  to  violent  extremes  of  temperature 
like  Norway  ?     Is  it  mountainous  like  Greece,  or  flat  like 
Holland  ?    Is  it  inland  like  Russia,  or  maritime  like  Eng- 
land ?     It  is  this  agency  that  gives  color  to  a  literature. 

3.  Epoch.  —  What  was  the  spirit  of  the  age  ?     What 
has  been  the  history  of  the  nation  ?    Has  it  been  free  dur- 
ing the  whole  of  its  history?     Has  it  had  to  maintain  a 
constant  fight  against  invaders,  or  has  it  been  itself  an 
invader  ?  What  perplexing  questions,  intellectual,  moral, 
social,  has  it  been  called  upon  to  settle?    In  what  great 


INTRODUCTORY.  3 

movements  or  events  has  it  participated  ?  These  things 
exert  a  powerful  influence  on  the  intellectual  develop- 
ment of  a  people.  It  is  this  agency  that  divides  the 
history  of  a  literature  into  periods. 

4.  Personality.  —  The  personality  of  the  writers  who 
produce  a  literature  is  not  the  least  of  the  agencies  that 
determine  its  character.  The  individuality,  the  "per- 
sonal equation,"  of  the  makers  of  masterpieces,  is  some- 
thing that  defies  analysis,  yet  it  is  this  that  gives  life  to 
the  writings  of  a  nation.  Without  it  the  agencies  of 
race,  environment,  and  epoch  would  tend  to  produce  an 
unvarying  product.  This  element  gives  diversity  to  a 
literature. 

The  Early  History  of  all  literatures  is  much  the  same. 
The  evolution  from  barbarism  to  civilization  is  always 
slow.  The  language,  at  first  limited  and  barren,  yet 
sufficient  to  voice  all  the  needs  and  emotions  of  savage 
life,  becomes  more  expressive.  War  brings  contact 
with  other  nations;  conquest  adds  foreign  elements. 
At  length  the  rude  shoutings  over  war  and  victory 
become  rhythmical,  and  literature  begins.  The  first 
notes  are  always  in  verse,  —  rude  and  unmetrical,  yet 
nevertheless  verse,  for  childhood  takes  naturally  to 
metres.  The  bloody  song  of  Lamech  to  his  wives,  Gen. 
iv.  23,  24,  is  the  first  poem  of  which  the  world  has  a 
record.  Beowulf,  a  terrible  tale  of  war  and  carnage,  is 
the  first  note  in  the  grand  chorus  of  English  song. 

American  Literature.  —  The  term  a  literature  may  be 
defined  as  "  all  the  literary  productions  in  a  given  lan- 
guage." 


4  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

By  this  definition  English  literature  would  embrace 
all  the  writings  that  have  emanated  from  the  race 
speaking  the  English  language.  The  writings  of  Amer- 
ica would,  therefore,  be  only  a  branch  drawing  life 
from  the  great  trunk  of  English  letters.  But  this  is 
not  so.  It  is  now  generally  admitted  that  the  litera- 
ture of  America  has  become  an  independent  one.  It 
is  an  exception,  and  the  only  exception,  to  the  rule 
given  above.  In  no  other  case  in  all  history  have 
there  been  two  distinct  literatures  written  in  the  same 
language. 

This  conclusion  has  not  been  reached  without  discus- 
sion. It  is  acknowledged  that  our  literature  is  still 
true  to  the  great  fundamental  principles  underlying 
English  thought  and  institutions ;  that  it  had  its  birth 
and  childhood  in  the  land  of  Chaucer  and  of  Spenser ; 
that  until  the  second  quarter  of  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury it  was  bound  intellectually  to  England,  and  that 
it  is  using  to-day  the  language  of  Wordsworth  and 
Tennyson.  But  this  does  not  prove  that  our  litera- 
ture is  not  now  an  independent  one,  for  we  have  been 
for  more  than  a  century  an  independent  nation ;  and 
we  are  recognized  abroad  not  as  Englishmen  in  Amer- 
ica, but  as  a  distinct  type  with  as  marked  an  individu- 
ality as  have  the  English  themselves.  (See  Garland's 
Crumbling  Idols;  Forum,  XVI.,  156;  Arena,  V.,  669; 
the  Chicago  Dial,  XXI,  243  ;  Longfellow's  Kavanagh, 
Ch.  XX.;  and  Richardson,  I.,  v-xx.) 

The  Beginnings  of  our  Literature.  —  To  study  Ameri- 
can literature  philosophically,  one  must  go  back  to  the 


INTRODUCTORY.  5 

beginnings  of  the  language  in  which  it  is  written.  A 
study  of  the  literature  and  the  intellectual  develop- 
ment of  England  through  the  Elizabethan  Age,  should 
precede  the  thorough  study  of  the  American  writers. 
This  portion  of  English  history  is  held  in  common  by 
both  nations.  The  elements  of  race  and  environment, 
as  they  affected  our  English  ancestors,  must  be  fully 
understood  in  order  for  us  to  appreciate  the  character 
and  spirit  of  the  founders  of  our  nation.  We  must 
weigh  the  great  events  of  British  history  and  their 
influence  upon  the  development  of  the  English  race. 
We  must  acquaint  ourselves  with  the  history  and 
development  of  English  thought  and  language ;  with 
the  great  minds  that  have  shaped  and  moulded  these 
from  Csedmon  to  Chaucer  and  from  Chaucer  to  Shakes- 
peare. This  done,  we  have  mastered  Book  I.  of  the 
History  of  American  Thought  and  Literature.  It  re- 
mains then  to  trace  the  intellectual  evolution  of  a  part 
of  the  English  people  under  a  new  environment,  amid 
new  scenes  of  action. 

Epoch.  —  (Tyler,  11-15.)  Our  literature  made  its 
first  feeble  beginnings  in  a  most  fortunate  time,  a 
time  — 

"  When  the  firmament  of  English  literature  was  all  ablaze  with 
the  light  of  her  full-orbed  and  most  dazzling  writers,  the  wits,  the 
dramatists,  scholars,  orators,  singers,  philosophers,  who  formed  that 
incomparable  group  of  titanic  men  gathered  in  London  during  the 
earlier  years  of  the  seventeenth  century."  —  Tyler. 

When  Jamestown  was  settled  in  1607,  Spenser  had 
been  dead  only  eight  years;  Shakespeare  was  at  the 


6  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

height  of  his  powers ;  Raleigh,  a  prisoner  in  the  Tower 
of  London,  was  engaged  on  his  History  of  the  World, 
and  Bacon  had  just  commenced  his  marvellous  work, 
The  Novum  Organum.  "  The  very  air  of  London  must 
have  been  electric  with  the  daily  words  of  these  im- 
mortals," who  made  the  Elizabethan  Age  the  most  glo- 
rious period  since  classic  times.  American  literature 
was  indeed  fortunate  in  the  time  of  its  birth. 


II. 

THE  FIRST  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

1607-1688. 
The  Renaissance.  —  The  Fifteenth  Cen-  1340-1400. 

.      ,  ,  -    ,  ,       -r,  ,  ,        frey  Chaucer, 

tury  is  the  age  of  the  Renaissance,  —  the  English  poet. 
awakening  of  literature,  science,  and  art,  J401-   Burning 

'    fixed  as  pumsh- 

from  the  long  slumber  of  the  Dark  Ages.  ment  for  heresy. 

As  the  direct  result  of  this  emancipation  Ar^burned.01 

of  Europe,  there  came  a  period  of  great  ^440f^Jn  Print" 

activity  in  almost  every  sphere  of  action.  able  types  in- 

The  newly  invented  art  of  printing  with  1453    constan- 
movable  types  marked  an  era  in  the  his- 


tory  of   book-making;    the   invention   of  Turks- 

gunpowder  completely  revolutionized  the  Wars  of  the 

.  Roses. 

science  of  war,  while  the  mariner  s  com-  1474.   caxton 


pass  marked  a  turning-point  in  the  history 

of  navigation.    Everywhere  was  to  be  seen  Digco 

the  activity  of  fresh  intellectual  life.  °f  the  New 

World. 

Spirit  of  the  Age.  —  The  Sixteenth  Cen-  1497.  Cabotdis- 

,-.  p    T  ^11  covers  North 

tury  is  the  age  of  discovery.     Columbus,  America. 
Cabot,  Da  Gama,  Balboa,  Magellan,  made 


six    world-revolutionizing-    discoveries    in  many- 

1520.    Magellan 

twenty-nine  years.     Cortez  found  a  won-  circumnavi- 

-.,,.,...  _,.  gates  the  globe. 

derland  in  Mexico  ;   rizarro  opened  up  a  1521.   Cortez 
new  El  Dorado  in  Peru;  De  Soto  discov- 


AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 


discovers  Si*0 


1531.  Pizarro  ered  a  mighty  inland  river  which  told  of  a 
vast  extent  of  land  to  the  northward,  and 
soon  t^ie  world  was  ready  to  believe  almost 

any  marvellous  tale- 

The    new   continent,  with    its    strange 

vegetable  and  animal  life,  with  its  mys- 
EuVish  Msto?  '  tery  and  its  wealth,  appealed  powerfully 

n  °f  the  masses.     It  was 


mund  Spenser, 

English  poet. 

1552-1618.    Sir 


Philip  Sidney,     literally  a  new  world  that  was  opened  to 

poet  and  knight.  J 

1558-1603.  the  eyes  of  Europeans,  a  world  peopled 

Keign  of  Eliza-     ,  „   ,     .  ,.    ,.  ,    .     -,. 

beth.  by  a  race  of  beings  as  distinct  and  mdi- 

Bacon     vid.ual  as  ^  ^ne  only  one  ever  created  on 
phil°80"  the  planet,  the  objects  of  the  most  intense 
1564-1616.  curiosity  in  the  Old  World. 

Engii^ifpoet'.  It  was  a  century  of  feverish  dreams  of 

first'  v5ini|h'S  new  empires>  °^  gold,  of  conquest.  The 
return  of  Pizarro  from  Peru  with  his  ship- 
loads  of  treasure  set  all  Europe  on  fire. 
Spain,  England,  and  France  took  the  lead, 
an(j  viecL  with  each  other  in  a  mad  scramble 
for  the  new  continent. 

The  Colonial  Age.  —  (t  isher  s  Colonial 
E™->  Thwaite's  The  Colonies,  1492-1750.) 
The  Age  of  Discovery  was  succeeded  in 

.  .  .    . 

America  by  the  Colonial  Age.  The  spirit 
of  maritime  adventure  and  exploration  which  had  grown 
into  a  passion  during  the  early  part  of  the  Sixteenth 
Century  began  to  subside  as  the  new  continent  became 
better  known,  and  the  nations  now  sought  to  make  good 
their  claims  to  acquired  territory  by  planting  colonies. 


first  vgini 
colony. 

1587.    Raleigh's 

second  colony, 

Reign  a?' 
James  i. 

1608.    Quebec 

founded  by 

Champlain. 

1608-1674. 


1609.   Hudson 

discovers  the 

Hudson  River. 


THE  FIRST  COLONIAL  PERIOD.  9 

America  had  a  powerful  influence  in  moulding  the 
spirit  of  the  age. 

"  Every  great  European  event  affected  the  fortunes  of  America. 
Did  a  state  prosper,  it  sought  an  increase  of  wealth  by  plantations 
in  the  west.  Was  a  sect  persecuted,  it  escaped  to  the  new  world." 
—  Bancroft,  Vol.  II. 

The  Colonial  Age  may  be  divided  into  two  distinct 
periods,  —  The  First  Colonial  Period,  which  extends 
from  1607,  the  year  of  Jamestown  settlement,  to  1688, 
the  year  of  the  revolution  which  placed  William  and 
Mary  on  the  English  throne ;  and  The  Second  Colonial 
Period,  which  opens  with  the  date  1688  and  ends  in 
1765,  the  year  of  the  Stamp  Act  and  the  birth  of  the 
Revolutionary  spirit  in  the  colonies. 

THE  FIRST  COLONIAL  PERIOD  (1607-1688). 

(Fisher's  Colonial  Era ;  Bancroft,  Vol.  I.;  Hildreth, 
Vol.  I.;  Lodge's  English  Colonies  in  America.)  Dur- 
ing the  eighty-one  years  included  in  the  first  colonial 
period,  thirteen  colonies  of  widely  differing  character- 
istics, founded  for  thirteen  different  reasons,  yet  all  of 
them  of  English  stock  in  the  end,  were  planted  along 
the  Atlantic  coast  of  America. 

The  eighty  years  were  filled  with  action.  It  was 
no  easy  task  to  subdue  a  raw  continent.  To  establish 
homes  in  a  savage  wilderness  subject  to  cruel  winters ; 
to  hew  down  the  forest;  to  clear  the  rocky,  stump- 
strewn  fields  and  fit  them  for  cultivation;  to  be  con- 
stantly  in  terror  of  wild  beasts  and  savage  men,  —  all 
of  these  things  called  for  unrelenting  physical  toil,  and 


10  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

left  little  time  to  be  devoted  to  the  arts  and  graces  of 
literature. 

The  whole  period  produced  nothing  of  literary  worth. 
A  few  writings,  the  offspring  mainly  of  necessity,  have 
come  down  to  us,  but  they  are  valuable  simply  as  curi- 
osities or  as  documents  for  the  historian.  The  period  is 
to  be  studied  not  for  its  literary  product,  but  for  the 
light  it  throws  on  our  later  literary  history. 

Virginia  and  Massachusetts.  —  (Tyler,  83-85 ;  Fiske, 
Civil  G-overnment,  16-19,  57-62 ;  Johns  Hopkins  Univer- 
sity Studies.)  The  two  colonies  of  Virginia  and  Massa- 
chusetts are  all  that  need  be  studied  in  an  elementary 
history  of  American  literature.  They  are  the  fountain 
heads  of  all  that  is  strongest  in  our  national  and  our 
literary  history.  Planted  for  widely  different  reasons, 
by  men  of  almost  opposite  traits  of  character,  and  for 
more  than  a  century  having  no  intercourse  at  all  with 
each  other,  they  at  length  became  the  intellectual  centres 
of  our  early  national  life.  Lowell  has  called  them  "  The 
two  great  distributing  centres  of  the  English  race  "  in 
America.  (See  Among  My  Books,  1st  series,  239.) 


1.  VIRGIOTA. 

**  Britons,  you  stay  too  long; 

Quickly  aboard  bestow  you; 
And  with  a  merry  gale 
Swell  your  stretch'd  sail; 

With  vows  as  strong 

As  the  winds  that  blow  you. 


THE  FIRST  COLONIAL  PERIOD.  11 

And  cheerfully  at  sea, 
Success  you  still  entice: 

To  get  the  pearl  and  gold; 

And  ours  to  hold; 
Virginia 
Earth's  only  paradise." 


So  sang  the  grand  old  Elizabethan  poet,  Michael 
Drayton,  when  the  three  vessels  that  were  fitting  on 
the  Thames  for  their  memorable  voyage  were  completing 
arrangements.  England  had  made  attempt  after  at- 
tempt during  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  to  establish  colonies 
in  her  vast  possessions  in  the  west,  but  all  of  them  had 
failed  miserably.  But  in  1603  it  was  discovered  that 
Virginia  could  be  reached  by  sailing  due  west  instead 
of  taking  the  long  dangerous  route  by  way  of  the  West 
Indies,  —  a  discovery  that  created  great  excitement 
throughout  England,  and  indeed  throughout  Europe. 
As  a  result,  large  numbers  became  eager  to  try  their 
fortunes  in  the  vast  unknown  El  Dorado,  now  for  the 
first  time  made  accessible.  The  newly  organized  London 
Company  soon  sent  out  a  fleet  of  three  small  ships, 
which,  after  being  blown  about  by  the  winds  of  the  At- 
lantic from  December  until  April,  were  at  last  swept 
blindly  and  roughly  by  a  fierce  storm  into  the  mouth  of 
Chesapeake  Bay.  The  building  of  the  few  rude  huts 
which  soon  arose  on  the  bank  of  the  James  was  the 
most  significant  event  that  had  happened  in  the  new 
world  since  its  discovery.  It  marked  the  opening  of  a 
new  era  in  the  history  of  North  America. 

The  Settlers  of  Virginia.  — (Cooke,  16-33 ;  Neill's  Hi* 


12  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

tory  of  the  Virginia  Company,  1869 ;  Fiske's  Old  Vir- 
ginia and  Her  Neighbors.)  It  will  be  found  important  as 
throwing  light  on  our  later  literary  development,  to 
look  carefully  at  these  early  emigrants  who  laid  the 
foundation  of  Virginia.  Of  the  one  hundred  and  five 
men  who  composed  the  first  expedition,  nearly  one-half 
were  "  gentlemen "  with  absolutely  no  experience  in 
manual  labor,  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  remainder 
were  soldiers  and  servants.  They  were  of  the  Royalist 
party,  and  the  Church  of  England.  Many  of  them  had 
squandered  their  ancestral  estates  and  now  sought 
America,  led  on  by  dreams  of  sudden  conquest,  and 
dazzling  riches.  Many  were  adventurers  born  of  the 
protracted  wars  with  Spain ;  some  were  worthless  idlers, 
and  even  criminals  fleeing  from  justice.  Not  one  of 
them  dreamed  of  a  permanent  home  in  the  new  land. 
They  had  had  no  falling  out  with  the  mother  country ; 
they  had  no  desire  to  found  a  new  order  of  society ;  they 
were  without  religious  scruples  or  anything  else,  save  a 
desire  for  speedy  wealth  —  for  gold  that  could  be  picked 
up  in  large  nuggets  without  exertion. 

Many  of  the  later  arrivals,  drawn  by  the  rich  tobacco 
plantation,  were  from  the  higher  classes,  yet  during  the 
first  half -century  "  the  large  proportion  of  the  settlers  IrT; 
Virginia  were  of  inferior  quality,  personally  and  socially,'/ 
and  many  of  them  were  "broken  men,  adventurers, 
bankrupts,  criminals." 

The  Physical  Geography  of  Virginia  had  much  to  do 
in  shaping  its  history.  It  has  a  delightful  climate,  a 
soil  of  marvellous  fertility  ;  it  is  traversed  by  numerous 


THE  FIRST  COLONIAL  PERIOD.  13 

noble  rivers,  many  of  them  navigable  for  a  long  distance 
from  the  sea,  a  fact  that  made  it  easy  for  plantations  to 
rely  upon  supplies  brought  by  vessels  up  the  rivers,  and 
that  made  the  village  grocery  store,  which  was  so  prom- 
inent a  feature  in  New  England,  a  useless  institution. 
The  land  was  early  found  to  be  very  favorable  for  the 
cultivation  of  tobacco,  a  crop  which  exhausts  the  soil 
more  rapidly  than  almost  any  other.  It  was  at  first 
found  more  profitable  to  move  to  new  fields  after  ex- 
hausting one  plantation  than  to  resort  to  the  use  of  fer- 
tilizers, which  accounts  for  the  early  scattering  of  the 
colonists  over  a  wide  area.  Tobacco  at  once  became  the 
one  crop  of  Virginia ;  it  made  manufacturing  impossible. 
"  Its  influence,"  says  one  writer,  "  permeated  the  entire 
social  sphere  of  the  colony,  directed  its  laws,  and  was 
an  element  in  all  its  political  and  religious  disturbances." 
Social  Conditions.  —  (Montcalm  and  Wolfe,  Ch.  1). 
As  a  result  of  these  combinations,  there  arose  a  system 
of  society  which  was  peculiar  to  Virginia.  The  people 
did  not  settle  in  villages,  as  in  New  England,  but  lived 
far  distant  from  each  other  on  large  estates.  "  In  James- 
town, the  capital  of  the  state,  there  were  only  eighteen 
houses."  The  owner  of  a  large  estate,  grown  rich  from 
the  cultivation  of  tobacco  which  he  shipped,  himself,  to 
England,  surrounded  himself  with  laborers  and  slaves 
and  lived  in  imitation  of  the  owners  of  the  English 
estates,  a  free  and  hospitable  life,  spending  his  leisure 
time  in  field  sports  and  politics.  Two  classes  of  society 
were  the  result:  the  rich  landowners,  and  the  poor 
laborers  and  slaves.  This  condition  of  society  made 


14  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

free  schools  impossible.  The  scattered  condition  of  the 
population,  the  independent  plantations,  the  love  of 
action  and  of  life  spent  almost  wholly  in  the  open  air, 
the  constant  contact  with  material  things,  all  conspired 
against  the  district  school  system  which  sprang  up  so 
naturally  in  New  England.  There  were  other  unfavor- 
able influences.  Between  1641  and  1677,  Virginia  was 
under  the  iron  rule  of  a  royal  governor,  Sir  William  Ber- 
keley, who  despotically  smothered  every  effort  of  his 
people  to  establish  schools  and  printing-presses.  His 
idea  was  that  to  keep  a  people  submissive  they  must 
be  kept  ignorant,  and  on  his  recall  to  England  "his 
policy  was  not,"  according  to  Professor  Tyler,  "  recalled 
with  him."  As  a  result,  there  was  no  permanent  print- 
ing-press in  the  colony  until  1729,  and,  in  the  words  of 
Burk,  the  historian  of  Virginia,  "  until  the  year  1688  no 
mention  is  anywhere  made  in  the  records,  of  schools 
or  of  any  provision  for  the  instruction  of  youth." 

Under  such  conditions  literature  could  not  flourish  as 
in  the  North.  The  South  has  stood  for  action  rather 
than  for  the  written  word.  By  the  discipline  acquired 
from  the  management  of  estates  the  planters  early  learned 
that  mastery  over  men  and  events  that  made  Virginia 
"  the  Mother  of  Presidents,"  of  fiery  orators  and  astute 
statesmen  and  successful  generals. 

Early  Writings  in  Virginia.  —  The  literature  of  the 
Colonial  age  in  Virginia  is  so  scanty  and  uninteresting 
as  to  deserve  little  attention.  Much  of  it  was  written 
for  purely  practical  ends  with  little  thought  of  finish  or 
literary  beauty.  Interspersed  with  this  is  the  work  of 


THE  FIRST  COLONIAL  PERIOD.  15 

a  few  English  scholars  who  made  a  brief  sojourn  in  the 
new  land  and  then  flitted  back  across  the  ocean.  Of 
the  principal  writers  of  the  first  Colonial  period,  all 
except  one,  Alexander  Whitaker,  who  had  come  "to 
bear  the  name  of  God  to  the  heathen"  of  the  New 
World,  returned  to  England  after  a  few  years.  The 
writings  of  the  period  may  be  roughly  gathered  into 
four  groups : 

1.  Letters  to  friends  in  England.    These,  written  often 
in  haste,  with  no  thought  of  literary  finish,  are  full  of 
observations   on   the   strange  scenes  and  surroundings 
into  which  the  lives  -of  their  writers  had  fallen.     They 
are  of  value  now  only  so  far  as  they  throw  light  on 
the  history,  society,  and  spirit  of  the  age  that  produced 
them. 

2.  Descriptions  of  the  Indians,  of  the  geography  of 
the  country,  of    the   new  flora  and  fauna,  and  of  the 
history  of  the  early  days  of   the  settlement.     Smith's 
A   True  Relation,  etc.,  and  A  Map  of  Virginia;   and 
Whitaker's    Good  News  from    Virginia,  are   the    best 
examples  of  this  class  of  literature. 

3.  Letters   legal,  and  reports   to  the  Companies  in 
England,  as,  for  example,  Smith's  Answers  to  the  Seven 
Questions,  etc. 

4.  Scholarly  works  written  by  Englishmen  of  leisure 
sojourning  for  a  time  in  America.     These  cannot  be 
classed  as  American  Literature  any  more  than  Irving's 
Sketch  Book  can  be  called  an  English  book  because  it 
was  written  in  England.     Among  such  writings  may  be 
mentioned  Sandys'  translation  of  Ovid's  Metamorphoses. 


16  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 


CAPTAIN  JOHN  SMITH  (1579-1631). 

"The  father  of  Virginia,  the  true  leader  who  first  planted  the 
Saxon  race  within  the  borders  of  the  United  States."  —  Bancroft. 

A  True  Relation       Life  (by  William  Gilmore  Simms  ;    by 

of  Virginia.  -2   ~  .  ,  .  J 

Letter  to  the        ^-  »•  Hillara,  in  oparks  American  Joiog- 

London  Com- 


AiniaP°fVir~  also  Eggleston's  Pocahontas,  and  Henry 
Adams'  Historical  Essays,  42.  The  chief 
authorities  on  the  life  of  Smith  are  his  own  autobio- 
graphical writings). 

The  romantic  life  of  Captain  John  Smith  is  too  well 
known  to  need  retelling.  His  character,  too,  needs  no 
new  light  shed  upon  it.  We  must  acknowledge  that 
he  was  inordinately  vain,  fond  of  boasting,  impetuous, 
imperious,  restless,  yet  we  know  that  his  shrewdness, 
his  indomitable  courage,  and  his  sound  judgment  more 
than  once  saved  the  Virginia  Colony  from  ruin.  "  It 
is  not  too  much  to  say,"  writes  an  eminent  English 
critic,  "that  had  not  Captain  Smith  strove,  fought, 
and  endured  as  he  did,  the  present  United  States  of 
America  might  never  have  come  into  existence.  It 
was  contrary  to  all  probability  that  where  so  many  had 
succumbed  already,  the  Southern  Virginia  Company's 
expedition  of  1606-7  should  have  succeeded." 

Cooke,  the  historian  of  Virginia,  writes  of  Smith  : 

"  His  endurance  was  unshrinking,  and  his  life  in  Virginia  in- 
dicated plainly  that  he  had  enormous  recoil.  He  was  probably 
never  really  cast  down,  and  seems  to  have  kept  his  heart  of  hope, 
without  an  effort  ift  the  darkest  hours,  when  all  around  him 
despaired." 


THE  FIRST  COLONIAL  PERIOD.  17 

Smith  as  a  Writer.  —  (Tyler,  16-38 ;  Richardson,  I., 
63-72.)  Of  the  nine  works,  with  American  themes, 
written  by  Smith,  three  were  composed  in  Virginia. 
His  first  book,  written  during  the  thirteen  months 
following  the  establishment  of  the  colony,  and  pub- 
lished in  London  the  next  year,  is  doubly  interesting, 
in  that  it  is  the  first  book  produced  on  this  continent, 
and  that  it  tells  in  detail  the  story  of  those  memorable 
months  at  Jamestown.  Its  full  title  is  as  follows : 

"  A  True  Relation  of  such  occurrences  and  accidents  of  noate  as 
hath  happened  in  Virginia  since  the  first  planting  of  that  Cottony, 
which  is  now  resident  in  the  south  part  thereof,  till  the  last  return  from 
thence.  .  .  .  Written  by  Captaine  Smith,  Coronell  of  said  CoUory, 
to  a  worshipfull  friend  of  his  in  England.  London  1608." 

Smith's  second  work  was  a  very  spicy  reply  to  the 
seven  questions  put  by  the  London  Company,  to  him  as 
governor  of  Virginia.  With  this,  Smith  sent  his  third 
American  work,  entitled  A  Map  of  Virginia,  etc.,  which, 
however,  was  not  published  until  1612. 

2.    MASSACHUSETTS. 

The  Pilgrims.  —  (Bradford  and  Winslow's  Journal, 
and  Bradford's  History  of  the  Plymouth  Plantation; 
Palfrey's  History  of  New  England ;  Fiske's  Beginnings 
of  New  England,  66-104  ;  Doyle's  The  Puritan  Colonies, 
Vol.  II. ;  Young's  Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrims ;  Drake's 
The  Making  of  New  England;  Bancroft,  Vol.  I.,  194-214.) 
The  small  band  of  adventurers  who  sought  Virginia 
in  1606,  led  on  by  dreams  of  "  pearl  and  gold,"  were 
swept  along  by  a  three  days'  storm  and  driven  as  by 


18  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

the  hand  of  fate  into  the  noblest  bay  along  the  Atlantic 
1571-1630.  coast,  to  a  land  of  wonderful  beauty  and 

fruitfulness,    at   a   time  when  all  nature 


159JKL683  was  ro^e(^  *n  ^e  fresnness  and  beauty  of 

Isaac  Walton,      the  early   springtime.      What  a  contrast 
disc<Wer*c5cu-    with  the  little  group  of  Pilgrims  who  four- 

lation  of  the  •,    ,  -11 

blood.  teen  years  later,  wearied  by  persecution, 

ex^es    from    their    native   land,   without 


1629-1640.  money  or  means  to  return  across  the  sea 

No  Parliament.  . 

1630.   Boston      even  had  they  desired  so  to  do,  were  landed 


on  the  savage  coast  of  Massachusetts,  at 
JohuDryden.      the  very  beginning  of  a  cruel,   northern 

KJ49-1653.  .    4  mi.     *r-      ?  •          i.    j     «  i. 

The  Common-  winter.  The  Virginians  had  all  been  men, 
1665.  Plague  in  many  of  them  inured  to  hardships  by  war 
hStdo1^  and  to  lives  of  adventure,  but  here  were 

looo.    Great 

London  Fire.       women  and  little  children, — whole  fam- 

1675-1676.  .,.  ,, 

King  Philip's  ilies.  Many  were  sick,  tor  months  it 
was  a  battle  with  cold,  hunger,  disease, 
hostile  Indians,  wild  beasts ;  a  battle  for  mere  existence. 
Never  was  there  a  more  unpromising  venture  as  viewed 
from  a  practical  standpoint;  never  was  there  a  more 
discouraging  outlook  than  from  the  huts  of  Plymouth 
during  that  memorable  winter ;  yet  never  has  there  been 
a  venture  that  has  yielded  grander  results.  Dec.  20} 
1620,  is  the  most  significant  date  in  our  history. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Mrs.  Hemans'  "Landing  of  the  Pil- 
grims;" Longfellow's  "Courtship  of  Miles  Standish."  See  also 
Mrs.  Child's  Hobomok;  Mrs.  Stowe's  The  Mayflower;  Mrs.  Aus- 
tin's Standish  of  Standish,  Betty  Alden,  Dr.  LeBaron  and  his 
Daughters,  and  A  Nameless  Nobleman. 


THE  FIRST  COLONIAL  PERIOD.  19 

Puritan  Traits.  —  (Green's  Short  History  of  the 
English  People,  III.,  19-35 ;  Neal's  History  of  the  Puri- 
tans; Taine's  English  Literature,  II. ,  ch.  v.;  Tyler, 
91-109;  Richardson,  I.  10-21.) 

The  settlers  of  Massachusetts  differed  from  the  early 
Virginians  in  almost  every  respect.  They  did  not  seek 
America  for  worldly  gain ;  they  were  not  adventurers 
cast  up  by  the  tide  of  chance,  nor  were  they  carried 
across  the  sea  by  a  wave  of  popular  enthusiasm.  They 
were  earnest  and  prayerful,  prone  to  act  only  after  ma- 
ture deliberation,  and  they  had  come  to  America  to  stay. 

As  we  study  the  history  of  the  intellectual  develop- 
ment of  New  England,  it  must  be  borne  constantly  in 
mind  that  her  founders  were  deeply  religious  men. 
Religion  was  their  vocation.  They  subordinated  every- 
thing to  this  one  great,  ruling  thought.  Their  convic- 
tions were  intense  and  they  obeyed  them  at  any  cost. 
Rather  than  use  the  book  of  Common  Prayer  and  wear 
the  robes  prescribed  for  the  clergy  by  the  Church  of 
England,  they  chose  to  leave  all  that  society  holds  dear 
and  take  wife  and  child  into  the  wilds  across  "  the  vast 
and  furious  ocean  "  where  they  might  be  free  to  worship 
God  as  they  pleased. 

After  purchasing  religious  freedom  at  such  a  price,  it 
is  but  natural  that  they  should  be  intolerant  of  those 
who  would  pervert  their  belief,  and  we  are  not  surprised 
to  find  them  in  turn  persecutors.  They  fiercely  as- 
sailed the  Quakers;  they  drove  Roger  Williams  and 
Anne  Hutchinson  into  the  wilderness,  and  in  Salem 
hanged  nineteen  persons  suspected  of  being  witches. 


20  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

They  viewed  with  alarm  the  increasing  commercial 
spirit  among  the  New  England  seaports.  In  1663  we 
hear  a  venerable  Salem  clergyman  sounding  this  note  of 
warning : 

"  It  concerneth  New  England  always  to  remember  that  she  was 
originally  a  plantation  religious,  not  a  plantation  of  trade.  The 
profession  of  the  purity  of  doctrine,  worship  and  discipline  is 
written  upon  her  forehead.  Let  merchants  and  such  as  are 
increasing  cent,  per  cent,  remember  this :  that  worldly  gain  was 
not  the  end  and  design  of  the  people  of  New  England,  but  religion. 
If  any  man  among  us  make  religion  as  twelve  and  the  world  as  thir- 
teen, such  an  one  has  not  the  spirit  of  a  true  New  England  man." 

Another  characteristic  of  these  men  was  their  intense 
earnestness.  They  were  never  idle.  Whatever  they 
did,  whether  in  religion,  politics,  education,  or  toil  for 
daily  bread,  they  did  with  their  might.  Life  was  a 
terrible  reality.  "I  am  resolved,"  wrote  Jonathan 
Edwards,  "  to  live  with  all  my  might  while  I  do  live." 
They  had  no  time  for  earthly  pleasures.  Gayety  and 
beauty,  adornment  of  person  or  anything  even  approach- 
ing luxury  were  looked  upon  as  things  from  Satan. 
Their  lives  were  sad  and  cheerless.  They  disciplined 
themselves  to  think  constantly  on  things  pertaining  to 
another  world.  Their  God  was  a  terrible  being  whose 
awful  anger  was  easily  kindled,  and  the  sulphurous 
glare  of  the  burning  pit  was  kept  constantly  before 
the  eyes  of  the  careless. 

If  they  became  more  gloomy  and  superstitious  than 
the  Puritans  of  England,  the  fact  can  be  easily  explained. 

They  were  "  surrounded  by  circumstances  and  pressed  by  griefs 
and  anxieties,  such  as  incline  to  sad  and  unhealthy  meditation.  .  .  . 


THE  FIRST  COLONIAL  PERIOD.  21 

An  ocean  divided  them  from  the  old  seats  of  civilized  life.  Almost 
in  the  primitive  nakedness  of  existence  they  were  waging  a  contest 
with  the  awful  elements.  Their  little  settlements  were  isolated 
and  unjoyous.  The  scene  all  around,  —  river,  rock,  covert,  moun- 
tain, forest,  —  almost  as  wild  and  sombre  as  creation  left  it,  invited 
to  stern  and  melancholy  musing."  —  Palfrey. 

Such  were  the  founders  of  New  England.  For  ten 
years  after  the  first  settlement,  very  few  ventured  to  the 
new  colony,  but  between  1630  and  1640  they  came  in 
multitudes.  The  opening  of  the  Long  Parliament  dur- 
ing the  latter  year  practically  put  an  end  to  the  Puritan 
exodus  from  England,  but  it  has  been  estimated  that 
there  were  then  twenty-one  thousand  souls  in  the  fifty 
towns  of  New  England. 

The  Physical  Geography  of  New  England  has  greatly 
affected  her  development.  When  the  Pilgrims  first  saw 
the  region,  it  was  covered  with  an  almost  unbroken 
forest.  Its  surface  was  rugged  and  strewn  thick  with 
bowlders,  the  relics  of  the  Glacial  Age.  The  great 
walls  and  heaps  of  stones  about  the  cultivated  fields 
tell  of  the  task  it  has  been  to  subdue  and  humanize  it« 
Its  rivers,  with  few  exceptions,  are  not  navigable.  The] 
come  plunging  down  from  the  mountain  sides,  affording 
wonderful  water-powers,  the  best  in  the  world.  Unlike 
Virginia,  the  country  afforded  few  inducements  to  set- 
tlers. Large  plantations  were  impossible  ;  tobacco  could 
not  be  grown  with  profit;  agriculture  was  confined  to 
the  owners  of  small  farms,  —  hillside  fields  wrested  by 
sheer  force  from  the  domain  of  nature  and  little  tracts 
along  the  rivers.  These  farms  produced  under  severe 
toil  enough  to  supply  their  owners  with  food.  Manu- 


22  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

facturing,  for  which  the  country  is  best  adapted,  was 
forbidden  by  England.  During  the  Colonial  period 
there  were  few  exports  save  lumber,  furs,  and  fish.  The 
last  item  should  not  be  overlooked,  for  so  important  a 
part  did  it  play  in  the  early  history  of  Massachusetts 
that,  to  signify  the  source  of  her  wealth,  the  figure  of  a 
codfish  was  hung  in  the  State  House  in  Boston.  The 
rich  fishing  grounds  off  Cape  Cod  and  the  grand  banks  of 
Newfoundland  were  within  easy  reach.  Whole  townships 
and  villages  along  the  coast  were  devoted  to  this  pursuit, 
the  inhabitants  leading  a  sort  of  dual  life  between  the 
little  farm  at  home  and  the  sea.  In  later  years  the 
whale  fishery  became  of  great  importance.  The  mag- 
nificent harbors  all  along  the  coast  invited  commerce. 
Shipbuilding  grew  to  be  a  leading  industry.  Thus  New 
England  became,  on  account  of  its  physical  features 
like  old  England.  Nature  intended  both  for  maritime 
enterprise  and  a  manufacturing  life.  Both  were  to  be 
sturdy  intellectual  centres  from  which  was  to  emanate 
a  wide-spread  and  dominating  influence. 

Literary  Conditions.  —  (Tyler,  109-114 ;  Richardson, 
I.,  ch.  2  ;  Stedman,  11-26.)  Among  such  men,  in  such 
an  environment,  literature  was  a  natural  product.  All 
the  conditions  necessary  for  intellectual  growth  were 
early  to  be  found.  New  England  emphasized  the  things 
that  Virginia  neglected,  and  developed  herself  accord- 
ingly. Chief  among  the  causes  that  made  her,  in  time, 
&  literary  influence,  were  : 

1.  A  Centralized  Society.  —  The  people  settled  in 
groups  and  not,  as  in  Virginia,  on  isolated  plantations. 


THE  FIRST  COLONIAL  PERIOD.  23 

This  was  brought  about  largely  by  that  religious  devo- 
tion that  forbade  families  settling  far  from  the  church. 
Previous  to  1640  many  entire  congregations  under  the 
leadership  of  their  pastors  came  from  England  and 
established  little  villages,  the  germs  of  future  cities. 
There  were  other  reasons  for  centralization.  It  was 
unsafe  to  live  far  from  the  "  block  house,"  the  common 
refuge  in  times  of  danger  from  Indians.  Supplies  must 
be  obtained,  not  as  in  Virginia  from  boats  plying  upon 
the  rivers,  but  from  centres  of  trade.  Thus  in  New 
England  the  town  became  in  time  the  political  unit; 
as  the  county  became  the  unit  in  Virginia.  Everything 
tended  to  bring  men  into  close  contact. 

Schools  and  colleges  and  literary  culture  flourish  best 
in  towns  and  cities  where  there  is  a  constant  inter- 
change of  experiences,  of  books,  of  letters  and  ideas. 

2.  Education. — It  was  a  belief  of  the  fathers  of  New 
England  that  "one  chief  project  of  that  old  deluder, 
Satan,"  is  to  keep  men  in  ignorance.  They,  therefore, 
regarded  the  educating  of  their  children  as  a  solemn 
religious  duty. 

The  settlers  were  mostly  from  the  common  walks  of 
life,  —  craftsmen  and  farmers,  —  but  their  leaders  and 
ministers  were  deeply  learned  men.  The  1536.  Harvard, 
percentage  of  those  in  New  England  who  1693.  College 

.        _  of  William  and 

were  college  bred  was  even  larger  than  it  Mary. 

is  at  the  present  time.     In  the  little  colony  170°-   Yale- 

of  Massachusetts  Bay  there  were  ninety  Jf^W^isfy. 

graduates  of  Cambridge    and  of   Oxford.  1754.    King's 

With  such  men  for  leaders  education  could  Columbia)0™ 


24  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

1755.   Univer-  not  languish.     The  school  house  came  to 

sity  of  Penn- 

sylvania. be  considered  second  only  to  the   church 


in  importance. 
1769.   Dart-  Fearing  that  the  plantations  would  be- 

mouth.  T»T     i  • 

1770  Rutgers  come»  as  Mather  expressed  it,  "mere  un- 
1775.  Hamp-  watered  places  for  the  devil,"  unless  they 
had  a  university,  the  settlers  in  1636  estab- 
lished a  college.  Four  hundred  pounds  in  money  was 
at  first  pledged.  Two  years  later,  by  the  will  of  John 
Harvard,  a  young  Charlestown  minister,  the  little  college 
received  seven  or  eight  hundred  pounds  and,  for  those 
times,  a  large  library.  It  is  somewhat  startling  to  think 
that  this  was  only  sixteen  years  after  the  Pilgrims  first 
landed  on  the  desolate  shores  of  New  England.  Yale 
College  came  sixty-five  years  later.  In  their  enthusi- 
asm for  education  the  colonists  even  tried  to  apply  the 
classics  to  the  Indian,  founding  Dartmouth  College  for 
that  purpose  in  1769. 

The  common  school  system  was  early  established. 
Every  town  of  fifty  families  was  compelled  by  law  to 
maintain  a  public  school,  and  every  town  of  one  hun- 
dred families  must  have  a  school  to  fit  pupils  for  Har- 
vard College. 

The  Pilgrims  builded  better  than  they  knew.  The 
educational  system,  thus  inaugurated,  has  become  the 
foundation  that  underlies  all  the  intellectual  product 
of  America. 

3.  The  church  was  in  itself  an  educational  factor 
that  must  not  be  overlooked.  An  educated  clergy,  and 
a  public  sentiment  that  compelled  every  one  to  be  a 


THE  FIRST  COLONIAL  PERIOD.  25 

constant  attendant  upon  the  Sabbath  services,  were 
great  incentives  to  intellectual  activity.  The  sermons 
of  the  time  were  deep  and  carefully  elaborated.  Deal- 
ing with  argumentative  and  doctrinal  themes,  they 
dragged  their  inexorable  length  through  two  and  even 
three  hours.  Often  the  preacher  gave  a  series  of  ser- 
mons on  some  particular  topic,  carefully  impressing  it, 
point  by  point,  upon  his  hearers  after  the  manner  of  a 
professor  of  divinity  in  a  college.  The  people  listened 
eagerly.  Mather,  in  his  life  of  the  Elder  Winthrop, 
records  that  "such  was  his  attention  and  such  his 
retention  in  hearing,  that  he  repeated  unto  his  family 
the  sermons  which  he  had  heard  in  the  congregation." 
Those  with  less  trusty  memories ,  came  to  church  with 
note  books,  and  gathered,  like  a  class  in  divinity,  the 
important  points  brought  out  by  the  preacher. 

The  age  was  an  argumentative  one.  Fierce  theologi- 
cal battles  were  waging  on  all  sides.  The  men  of  New 
England  had  taken  a  bold  and  radical  step  before  the 
eyes  of  the  world,  and  they  held  themselves  ready  to 
defend  their  creed  with  all  the  logic  and  argument 
at  their  command.  Under  such  church  discipline  they 
gained  the  weapons  most  needed.  Thus  were  culti- 
vated those  powers  of  attention,  of  close  and  consecu- 
tive reasoning,  which  in  after  years  reached  their  fullest 
development  in  Edwards  and  Franklin. 

Metaphysics  and  theological  argument  are  not  litera- 
ture, yet  they  gave  to  the  builders  of  New  England  an 
intellectuality  that  soon  made  possible  purely  literary 
work. 


26  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Unfavorable  Influences.  —  (Montcalm  and  Wolfe, 
Ch.  1.)  It  must  not  be  inferred  that  everything 
done  by  the  Pilgrims  was  to  bear  rich  fruit.  Many  in- 
fluences were  at  work  decidedly  hostile  to  literary  pro- 
duction, and,  indeed,  to  any  degree  of  symmetrical 
intellectual  development.  Among  these  unfavorable 
influences  only  three  need  be  mentioned. 

1.  Puritan  Narrowness.  —  Hawthorne  has  admirably 
summed  up  this  influence. 

Life  in  the  Puritan  settlements  "must  have  trudged  onward 
with  hardly  anything  to  diversify  and  enliven  it,  while  also  its 
rigidity  could  not  fail  to  cause  miserable  distortions  of  the  moral 
nature.  Such  a  life  was  sinister  to  the  intellect  and  sinister  to  the 
heart ;  especially  when  one  generation  had  bequeathed  its  religious 
gloom,  and  the  counterfeit  of  its  religious  ardor,  to  the  next.  .  .  . 
The  sons  and  grandchildren  of  the  first  settlers  were  a  race  of 
lower  and  narrower  souls  than  their  progenitors  had  been.  The 
latter  were  stern,  severe,  intolerant,  but  not  superstitious,  not  even 
fanatical ;  and  endowed,  if  any  men  of  that  age  were,  with  a  far- 
seeing  worldly  sagacity.  But  it  was  impossible  for  the  succeeding 
race  to  grow  up,  in  heaven's  freedom,  beneath  the  discipline  which 
their  gloomy  energy  of  character  had  established ;  nor,  it  may  be, 
have  we  even  yet  thrown  off:  all  the  unfavorable  influences  which, 
among  many  good  ones,  were  bequeathed  to  us  by  our  Puritan 
forefathers."  —  The  Snow  Image,  "  Main  Street." 

2.  Lack  of  ^Esthetic  Taste.  —  Beauty,  whether  in  art, 
literature,  or  external  surroundings,  was  looked  upon 
with  suspicion.     The  romance  and  the  drama  were  con- 
demned as  vanities ;  poetry,  aside  from  hymns  and  relig- 
ious jingles,  was  a  mere  waste  of  words ;  sculpture  and 
painting  were  regarded  with  horror  as  a  direct  violation 
of  the  Second  Commandment ;  while  the  desire  for  orna- 


THE  FIRST  COLONIAL  PERIOD.  27 

ment,  either  in  architecture  or  dress,  was  supposed  to 
come  directly  from  the  devil. 

3.  Licensed  Printing.  —  The  Puritans  regarded  the 
press  much  as  did  old  Governor  Berkeley  of  Virginia. 
Their  terror  of  its  power  to  mould  the  public  mind  is 
half  ludicrous  as  we  view  it  to-day.  In  1639,  a  press 
was  set  up  in  Cambridge  to  be  watched  over  by  the 
Argus  eyes  of  the  university  authorities.  But  these 
guardians  of  the  awful  engine  became  at  length  too 
liberal,  and  a  board  of  licensers  was  appointed  to  take 
their  place.  The  result  of  this  restriction  upon  print- 
ing was  an  inevitable  one.  The  first  feeble  attempt  at 
a  newspaper,  in  1690,  died  at  its  birth.  For  more  than 
a  century  journalism  lived  as  it  could ;  historical  writ- 
ings were  confined  to  a  few  dry  journals ;  poetry  worthy 
of  the  name  was  unknown.  Little  save  sermons  and 
controversial  pamphlets  issued  from  the  press.  It  has 
been  found  that  between  the  years  1706  and  1718  five 
hundred  and  fifty  publications  were  printed  in  Amer- 
ica; "of  these  all  but  eighty-four  were  on  religious 
topics,  and  of  the  eighty-four,  forty-nine  were  almanacs." 

The  Bay  Psalm  Book.  —  (Eames's  A  List  of  Edi- 
tions of  the  Bay  Psalm  Book ;  Winsor's  Memorial  His- 
tory of  Boston.^  This  work,  issued  at  Cambridge,  in 
1640,  holds  the  somewhat  enviable  distinction  of  being 
the  first  book  printed  in  America.  It  was  the  joint 
production  of  several  divines,  prominent  among  whom 
were  "the  apostle"  Eliot  and  Richard  Mather.  The 
compilers  put  all  of  their  tremendous  energy  and  will 
power  into  the  task  of  turning  the  Psalms  of  David 


28  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

into  metrical  form  for  church  use,  and  the  result  was 
one  of  the  most  marvellous  productions  ever  written  in 
English.  It  need  not  be  said  to  one  who  has  read  even 
a  fragment  from  this  book  that  the  men  of  early  New 
England  were  anything  but  poetical.  "  Everywhere  in 
the  book/'  writes  Tyler,  "is  manifest  the  agony  it 
cost  the  writers  to  find  two  words  that  would  rhyme,  — 
more  or  less."  A  brief  extract  will  characterize  it  better 
than  a  page  of  description. 

PSALM  CXXXVH. 

"The  rivers  on  of  Babilon, 

there  when  wee  did  sit  downe, 
Yea,  even  then  wee  mourned  when 
we  remembered  Sion. 

"Our  harp  wee  did  hang  it  amid 

upon  the  willow  tree, 
because  there  they  that  us  away 
led  into  captivitee, 

"  Required  of  us  a  song,  and  thus 

askt  mirth  us  waste  who  laid, 
Sing  us  among  a  Sion  song, 
unto  us  then  they  said. 

«  The  Lord's  song  sing,  can  wee,  being 

in  stranger's  land  ?  then  let 
lose  her  skill  my  right  hand  if  I 
Jerusalem  forget." 

The  Literature  of  the  Period  falls  naturally  into  three 
groups :  Journals  and  Historical  Works,  Religious  and 
Theological  Writings,  and  Poetry. 


THE   f'l&ST  COLONIAL  PERIOD.  2$ 

I.    HISTORICAL  WORKS. 

From  the  very  first,  the  Pilgrims  seem  to  have  been 
conscious  of  their  high  destiny.  They  never  for  a 
moment  doubted  that  they  were  the  pioneers  of  a  new 
era,  and  they  realized  that  in  future  years  their  every 
act  would  be  regarded  with  great  interest.  They  there- 
fore determined  that  posterity  should  have  a  truthful 
report  of  all  their  acts  and  motives. 

1.   WILLIAM  BRADFORD  (1588-1657). 
"The  Father  of  American  History." 

No  writer  of  contemporary  history  was  ever  more 
favored  by  circumstances  than  was  William  Bradford, 
the  historian  of  Plymouth,  since  the  . 

J     m     t  History  of  Ply- 

greater  part  of  the  stirring  scenes  of  mouth  Pianta- 
which  he  wrote  passed  under  his  own  journal  (with 
eye.  Born  in  Yorkshire,  in  1588,  he 
became,  while  yet  a  boy,  a  member  of  the  little  com- 
pany of  Puritans  that,  under  the  lead  of  their  pastor, 
Robinson,  fled  to  Holland.  At  the  age  of  thirty-two, 
he  was  among  the  passengers  on  the  Mayflower.  From 
1621  until  his  death,  he  was  governor  of  Plymouth 
Plantation. 

Bradford's  history  is,  in  reality,  a  journal  kept  with 
extreme  care.  Commencing  at  the  root  of  the  matter, 
it  gives  a  careful  account  of  the  origin  of  the  religious 
dissensions  in  England  from  which  the  Pur.' tan  sect 
arose ;  it  records  the  persecutions  and  sufferings  of  the 


30  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

various  congregations ;  the  flight  of  the  little  flock  to 
Holland  and  thence  to  America,  and  the  daily  life  of 
those  first  eventful  years.  The  narrative  continues 
down  to  the  year  1646.  It  is  accurate  and  readable, 
and  it  is  almost  the  only  authority  for  the  period  which 
it  covers. 

The  manuscript  has  had  a  romantic  history.  It  was 
not  published,  and  at  the  death  of  its  author  it  passed 
from  hand  to  hand,  many  of  the  historians  of  the  time 
making  large  extracts  from  it,  until  at  length  it  found 
its  way  into  the  archives  of  the  old  South  Church  of 
Boston.  After  the  British  occupation  of  this  church 
during  the  Revolution,  it  disappeared,  and  for  almost 
a  century  it  was  mourned  as  lost.  But  in  1855,  it  was 
found  in  the  library  of  the  Bishop  of  London  and  pub- 
lished entire  by  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Extracts  from  Bradford's  History, 
Maynard,  Merrill  &  Co. 

2.   JOHN  WINTHROP  (1588-1646). 

Life  (by  Robert  C.  Winthrop ;  by  Joseph  H.  Twitch- 
ell). —  As  Bradford  is  the  historian  of  the  Plymouth 
Colony,  so  Winthrop  is  the  chronicler  of 

History  of  New  J 

England.  Massachusetts  Bay.    He  was  the  first  gov- 

ernor of  the  Plantation,  and  from  1643 
until  his  death  he  was  governor  of  the  united  Colonies 
of  Massachusetts. 

The  first  entries  in  Winthrop's  journal  were  made  on 
shipboard  during  the  long  two  months'  voyage  to  New 


THE  FIRST  COLONIAL  PERIOD.  31 

England  in  1630,  and  the  entries  were  continued  from 
time  to  time  until  their  author's  death. 

These  journals,  by  the  most  prominent  men  in  the 
two  colonies,  naturally  invite  comparison.  Bradford's 
work  is  without  doubt  the  better  of  the  two.  It  is 
readable,  and  its  literary  style  is  excellent.  Winthrop's 
history  is  dull  and  often  unreadable.  It  has  more  his- 
torical value  than  Bradford's,  simply  because  the  Colony 
of  Massachusetts  Bay  became  of  more  importance  than 
the  Plymouth  Plantation.  Winthrop  delights  in  record- 
ing miracles,  apparitions,  and  monstrosities.  He  dwells 
on  the  darker  side  of  Puritanism,  while  Bradford  con- 
stantly aims  to  display  its  brighter  phases. 

Winthrop's  history  has  proved  a  rich  mine  for  later 
writers.  Hawthorne  probably  conceived  of  his  Scarlet 
Letter  while  perusing  its  pages.  He  found  in  it  the 
story  of  "Endicott  and  the  Red  Cross,"  and  "The  May- 
pole of  Merry  Mount."  Whittier's  "John  Underbill" 
and  many  of  Longfellow's  New  England  Tragedies  were 
founded  on  facts  obtained  from  this  old  diary. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Whittier's  "John  Underbill";  Haw- 
thorne's u  Endicott  arid  the  Red  Cross." 

3.  THOMAS  MORTON  (1590-1646). 

" The  roistering  Morton  of  Merry  Mount."  —  Longfellow,  "Rhyme 
of  Sir  Christopher." 

Just  five  years  after  the  planting  of  the  Plymouth 
Colony  there  settled  at  Mount  Wollaston,  now  Brain- 
tree,  Massachusetts,  one  Thomas  Morton,  with  a  bois- 
terous crew  of  merry  fellows  who  on  May  day,  1626, 


32  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

christened  the  hill  "Merry  Mount"  and  held  high 
TheNewEng-  carniva^  about  a  May-pole.  The  settle- 
Ush  Canaan.  ment  soon  became  very  offensive  to  its 
Puritan  neighbors,  and  shortly  afterward  the  pole  was 
cut  down  by  Miles  Standish  and  his  men,  and  Morton 
was  sent  to  England.  Attempting  to  return,  he  was 
again  sent  back. 

Morton  avenged  his  wrongs  by  writing,  in  England, 
TJie  New  English  Canaan  (1637),  a  coarse  and  boister- 
ous book,  ridiculing  the  Puritan  faith  and  manners.  Its 
facts  are  riot  trustworthy,  and  its  descriptions  are 
grossly  exaggerated.  Upon  the  author's  return  to  New 
England  he  was  imprisoned  one  year  for  this  offence. 
Hawthorne's  May  Pole  of  Merry  Mount  and  Motley's 
Merry  Mount  are  founded  on  incidents  in  Morton's 
career. 

Thomas  Morton  of  "  Merry  Mount "  should  not  be  con- 
founded with  Nathaniel  Morton  of  Plymouth  Colony, 
who  published  in  1669  New  England's  Memorial,  a  his- 
tory of  the  colony  from  1620  to  1646,  copied  largely 
from  the  history  of  his  uncle,  William  Bradford,  and 
from  Winslow's  Journal. 

H.  THEOLOGICAL  WORKS. 

The  various  theological  factions  that  fought  so  fiercely 
throughout  the  Colonial  era,  poured  into  each  other's 
ranks  a  leaden  hail  of  pamphlets.  The  few  surviving 
relics  of  these  battles,  with  quaint,  long  titles,  and  dry- 
as-dust  contents,  are  valuable  now  only  to  the  historian 
and  the  antiquarian. 


THE  FIRST  COLONIAL  PERIOD.  33 


1.   KOGER  WILLIAMS  (1606-1683). 

*'  An  able,  earnest,  and  successful  pioneer  in  that  great  movement 
toward  religious  freedom  which  has  characterized  the  history  of  the 
United  States.  ...  No  American  ever  wrote  more  boldly  or  truth- 
fully." —  Richardson. 

Life  (by  J.  D.  Knowles ;  by  Romeo  Elton ;  by  Z.  A. 
Mudge;  by  O.  S.  Straus).  Although  the  Puritans  had 
dreamed  of  America  as  a  land  where  they  might  wor- 
ship without  opposition,  they  never  fully  realized  this 
fond  ideal.  Opponents  sprang  up  all  ^  Bloody 
around  them.  The  Quakers  and  the  Bap-  Tenet  yet  more 

Bloody,  and  nu- 

tists   gave   them  no   end  of   trouble.     In  merous  other 

pamphlets. 

1630  Roger  Williams,  a  minister  of  the 
Church  of  England,  just  turned  non-conformist,  settled 
among  them  and  began  a  bitter  war  of  argument.  He 
was  finally  driven  from  the  Colony.  Thereupon  with  a 
few  followers  he  established  a  settlement  near  what  is 
now  the  city  of  Providence,  Rhode  Island. 

The  whole  life  of  Roger  Williams  was  spent  in  a 
warfare  of  theological  debate.  He  defended  the  Bap- 
tists and  the  Quakers,  exposed  without  mercy  the  weak 
points  of  Puritanism,  and  stood  always  on  the  side  of 
truth  and  progress.  He  defended  his  every  position 
with  showers  of  pamphlets. 

2.   JOHN  ELIOT  (1604-1690). 
"The  Apostle  to  the  Indians." 

Although  producing  little  that  can  be  accounted  as 
literature,  John  Eliot  deserves  prominent  mention  in 


34  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Translation  of    the  history  of  American  letters.    He  seems 

the  Bible  into  ,  ,  , ,  ,  -  ,  . 

the  Indian  to  nave  been  tne  only  one  01  his  genera- 
Psafms  ^in-  ^on  w^°  realize(l  that  the  Indian  possessed 
dian  metre.  an  immortal  soul.  He  devoted  his  life  to 

Bay  Psalm 

Book.   Pam-      the  task  of  winning  these  souls  for  Christ. 
Not  only  did  he  learn  the  Indian  tongue, 
but  he  translated  the  entire  Bible  into  the   language. 
The  task  was  a  herculean  one. 

"  To  learn  a  language  utterly  unlike  all  other  tongues,  .  .  . 
a  language  never  written,  and  the  strange  words  which  seemed 
inexpressible  by  letters,  —  first  to  learn  this  new  variety  of  speech, 
and  then  to  translate  the  Bible  into  it,  and  to  do  it  so  carefully  that 
not  one  idea  throughout  the  holy  book  should  be  changed,  —  this 
was  what  the  Apostle  Eliot  did." —  Grandfather's  Chair. 

Eliot's  Bible  is  now  the  most  valuable  relic  of  a 
vanished  race.  Aside  from  its  great  interest  to  the 
ethnologist  and  the  antiquarian,  it  has  the  added  inter- 
est of  being  the  first  Bible  printed  in  America.  Copies 
of  it  are  exceedingly  rare  and  costly. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Hawthorne's  Grandfather's  Chair,  Part 
I.,  Ch.  8.  Eliot's  Brief  Narrative  of  the  Progress  of  the  Gospel  among 
the  Indians.  1670.  Old  South  Leaflets. 


m.  POETRY. 

A  glance  at  the  old  Bay  Psalm  Book  is  enough  to 
convince  any  one  that  the  Puritan  age  was  anything  but 
a  poetical  one.  Nevertheless  we  find  among  the  early 
colonists  many  writers  of  verse,  at  least  two  of  which 
were  proudly  classed  by  their  contemporaries  among  the 
great  poets  of  all  time.  Only  these  two  need  be  con- 
sidered here. 


THE  FIRST  COLONIAL  PERIOD.  35 

1.  ANNE  (DUDLEY)   BRADSTREET   (1612-1672). 

(Works  of  Anne  Bradstreet  in  Prose  and  Verse,  edited 
by  Ellis ;  Poems  of  Mrs.  Anne  Bradstreet,  introduc- 
tion by  Norton,  1897 ;  Anne  Bradstreet  and  Her  Time, 
by  Campbell,  1891.) 

Since  the  days  of  Sappho  no  poetess  was  ever  more 
extravagantly  praised  by  contemporaries  than  was  Anne 
Bradstreet,  the  "  Tenth  Muse  "  of  the  Puritans  of  early 
New  England.  The  daughter  of  Governor  Thomas 
Dudley,  she  had  accompanied  her  father  into  the  forests 
of  Massachusetts  Bay  with  the  earliest  settlers  of  that 
province. 

In  1650  there  appeared  in  London,  under  the  title 
The  Tenth  Muse  Lately  sprung  up  in  America,  the  first 
book  of  American  verse  ever  printed  abroad : 

"  THE  TENTH  MUSE  Lately  sprung  up  in  America.  Sev- 
erall  Poems,  compiled  with  great  variety  of  Wit  and  Learning, 
full  of  delight.  Wherein  especially  is  contained  a  compleat  dis- 
course and  description  of  the  Four  Elements,  Constitutions,  Ages 
of  Man,  Seasons  of  the  Tear.  Together  with  an  Exact  Epitome 
of  the  Four  Monarchies,  viz.  The  Assyrian,  Persian,  Grecian, 
Roman.  Also  a  Dialogue  between  Old  England  and  New,  con- 
cerning the  late  troubles.  With  divers  other  pleasant  and  serious 
Poems.  By  a  Gentlewoman  in  those  parts." 

The  title  is  a  startling  one,  from  the  poetical  stand- 
point. To  woo  the  Muse  with  such  subjects  seems 
hardly  possible,  and  the  poems  are  what  we  might  well 
expect.  Her  numbers  were  seldom  correct ;  she  lacked 
the  fine  touch  of  the  true  poet,  and  her  themes  were  such 
that  not  even  genius  could  lift  them  into  the  realm  of 
poesy,  yet  in  spite  of  all  this  she  deserves  much  praise, 
since  hers  was  the  hand  that  first  beckoned  the  lyric 
muse  to  these  shores. 


36  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Among  a  surprising  mass  of  rubbish  from  her  pen 
there  is  here  and  there  to  be  found  a  true  gem.  In  her 
Contemplations,  written  apparently  on  the  banks  of  the 
Merrimac  at  the  flood  tide  of  the  year,  we  find  the  first 
poetry  of  the  American  landscape : 

"  Sometime  now  past  in  the  Autumnal  tide, 

When  Phoabus  wanted  but  one  hour  to  bed, 

The  trees  all  nicely  clad,  yet  void  of  pride, 
Were  gilded  o'er  by  his  rich  golden  head. 

Their  leaves  and  fruits  seein'd  painted,  but  was  true 

Of  green,  of  red,  of  yellow,  mixed  hew  : 

Rapt  were  my  sences  at  this  delectable  view." 

The  surroundings  of  this  early  poetess  were  anything 
but  inspiring.  She  was  lame  and  of  delicate  health 
throughout  her  life.  The  mother  of  eight  children,  she 
wrote  all  her  poems  amid  the  hurry  and  care  of  multi- 
farious household  duties. 

From  Anne  Bradstreet  has  descended  a  sturdy  literary 
progeny  Holmes,  Channing,  R.  H.  Dana,  Buckminster, 
and  many  other  New  England  authors  trace  a  lineal 
descent  from  this  earliest  singer  of  the  new  world. 

2.  MICHAEL    WIGGLESWORTH  (1631-1715). 

(Memoir  of  the  Rev.  Michael  Wigglesworth,  Author  of 
the  Day  of  Doom,  by  Dean,  1863.) 

None  can  fully  appreciate  the  theology  of  early  New 
England  who  has  not  read  the  remarkable  poem,  The 
Day  of  Doom,  —  that  blazing,  sulphurous  picture  of  the 
punishment  of  the  wicked  according  to  the  ideals  of 
Puritanism. 

• 

Its  author,  the  Reverend  Michael  Wigglesworth,  in 
the  words  of  Cotton  Mather,  "a  little  feeble  shadow 


THE  FIRST  COLONIAL  PERIOD.  37 

of  a  man,"  had  come  with  his  parents  to  America  in  his 
seventh  year,  and  after  a  course  at  Harvard,  had  settled 
over  a  church  at  Maiden,  Massachusetts,  where  he  at 
once  commenced  a  most  remarkable  career  as  a  poet. 
His  Day  of  Doom,  or  a  Poetical  Description  of  the  G-reat 
and  Last  Judgment,  with  a  Short  Discourse  about  Eter- 
nity, appearing  in  1662,  quickly  went  through  nine 
editions  in  America  and  two  in  England.  It  became, 
in  the  words  of  Lowell,  "the  solace  of  every  fireside, 
the  flicker  of  the  pine-knots  by  which  it  was  conned 
perhaps  adding  a  livelier  relish  to  its  premonitions  of 
eternal  combustion." 

Judged  by  the  cold  standards  of  to-day  the  book  has 
little  poetic  merit.  The  sing-song  of  the  verse,  that  so 
captivated  its  first  readers,  serves  to  create  only  a  pass- 
ing smile,  while  we  shudder  at  the  narrow  theology  that 
could  exult  over  burning  infants  and  gloat  ovec  the 
moans  of  tortured  sinners.  A  short  extract  will  illus- 
trate its  metre  and  spirit. 

"  Then  might  you  hear  them  rend  and  tear 

The  air  with  their  outcries ; 
The  hideous  noise  of  their  sad  voice 

Ascendent  to  the  skies. 
They  wring  their  hands,  their  caitiff  hands. 

And  gnash  their  teeth  for  terror ; 
They  cry,  they  roar,  for  anguish  sore, 

And  gnaw  their  tongue  for  horror. 
But  get  away  without  delay ; 

Christ  pities  not  your  cry ; 
Depart  to  hell,  there  may  you  yell 

And  roar  eternally." 


m. 

THE  SECOND  COLONIAL  PERIOD. 

1688-1765. 
1607.   Virginia        Colonial   Isolation.  —  One  of  the   most 

settled  at 

Jamestown.  striking  things  in  our  Colonial  history  is 
ehusetts  settled  the  remarkable  isolation  of  the  Colonies,  in 
reference  to  each  other,  all  through  the 
set-  Colonial  Age.  Although  kindred  in  blood, 


K523.   New         speaking  the  same  language  and  acknowl- 

York  settled  by     r  °  >      o 

the  Dutch.          edging  the  same  sovereign,  each  Colony 

1631.  Maryland  .  v<t         ,..,,  ,.        ,       .,      ,„        .,* 

settled  by  Clay-  was  in  reality  a  little  nation  by  itself,  with 


Connecti-  ^ts  own   peculiar   laws,   moneys,   military 
cut  settled.         plans,  and  social  usages. 

1636.    Rhode  Is-    F 

land  settled  by        At  the  end  of  the  first  period  the  Colo- 

Koger  Williams. 

1638.  Delaware  nies  were  in  three  distinct  groups  : 

Swedes  aud  1.    The  New  England  Group.  —  Massa- 

1663^5    The       chusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New 

Carolinas  set-       Hampshire. 

1664.   NewJer-       2.   The  Middle  Group.—  New  York,  New 

sey  settled  by  . 

English  and        Jersey,  Delaware,  Pennsylvania. 
1681.   Pennsyl-        3.    The    Southern    Group.  —  Maryland, 
Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina, 
Georgia. 


1733.   Georgia        Between   the   members   of  each   group 

settled  by  Ogle-     ,  .  3    , 

thorpe.  there  was  more  or   less   intercourse,  but 

between  the  groups  there  was  almost  none  at  all. 

38 


THE  SECOND   COLONIAL  PERIOD.  39 

Loyalty  to  England.  —  Although  the  immigrant  gen- 
eration passed  from  the  field  of  action,  and  affairs  came 
into  the  hands  of  those  who  called  themselves  "  English- 
men "  and  yet  had  never  been  in  England,  loyalty  to 
the  mother  land  did  not  abate.  Notwithstanding  their 
isolation  in  regard  to  one  another,  all  the  Colonies  were 
intensely  true  to  what  they  called  their  "  home  across 
the  sea."  Even  the  New  Englanders  who  had  quarrelled 
with  England  to  a  degree  that  they  could  leave  her 
forever,  were  proud  to  call  themselves  Englishmen,  and 
regarded  New  England  simply  as  a  part  of  the  old  Eng- 
land which  they  had  left.  Whatever  may  be  said  to 
the  contrary,  the  colonists  did  not  dream  of  indepen- 
dence until  the  very  close  of  the  Colonial  Age.  They 
could  complain  of  harsh  treatment,  and  even  resist  a 
tyrannical  governor,  as  did  Bacon  in  Virginia  in  1676, 
but  they  no  more  thought  of  independence  from  Great 
Britain  than  did  the  citizens  of  London.  Franklin,  as 
late  as  1775,  told  Lord  Chatham  that  in  all  his  inter- 
course with  all  sorts  of  people  in  the  Colonies  he  had 
never  heard  a  desire  to  separate  from  England  expressed. 
The  negligence  of  Great  Britain  forced  the  Colonies  to 
unite,  and  her  injustice  forced  them  to  independence. 

The  Second  Colonial  Period. — The  Revo- 
lution of  1688,  which  forced  the  intolerant  Isaac  Newton. 
James  II.  to  flee  to  France,  and  placed  the  ^^/DeFoe. 
protestant  monarchs,  William  and   Mary,  1667-1745. 

J      Jonathan  Swift 

on  the  English  throne,  marks  the  end  of  1672_i7i9. 
the    First  Colonial  Period.     There  was  no  Joseph  Addison. 

,  .      ,,  .   x,       ,.,  ,       .     1672-1729. 

change  in  the  tone  of  the  literary  product  Richard  steeie. 


40  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

1689-1761.          to  show  that  a  new  period  had   opened; 

Samuel  Kich-       .,-,,,  •-«          j      •        ,1  ,•       ^  i 

ardson.  indeed,  the  writings  during  the  entire  Colo- 

Henry7|leiding.  ^^  Age  are  °f  singular  uniformity.  The 
1728-1774.  period  stands  rather  for  the  birth  of  a  new 

Oliver  Gold-         ^ 

smith.  idea,  one  of  wonderful  meaning,  on  which 

1737-1794,  ,.         ,  ,  ,.,  ....  , 

Edward  Gibbon,  our  national  and  our  literary  history  de- 

3£*i8!&  pends,-the  idea  of  Union.   ' 

Crusoe.  Scarcely  three   months   from   the  time 

1740.    Publica-  J 

tion  of  Pamela,  of   his  coronation,  William   declared  war 

the  first  English  . 

Novel.  against  Louis  XIV.  of  France,  who  was 

then  meditating  on  a  splendid  course  of  conquest  which 
aimed  at  nothing  less  than  universal  domain. 

The  war  known  in  history  as  King  William's  War 
was  the  American  echo  of  the  conflict  that  followed. 

New  France  or  New  England.  —  (Parkman's  Montcalm 
and  Wolfe,  Fiske's  New  France  and  New  England.)  Dur- 
ing the  preceding  period  the  French  had  left  the  English 
to  hold  the  Atlantic  coast,  and  had  pushed  up  the  St. 
Lawrence,  through  the  Great  Lakes  and  down  the  Mis- 
sissippi, until,  under  the  names  of  Louisiana  and  New 
France,  they  laid  claim  to  fully  one-half  of  the  present 
territory  of  the  United  States.  No  sooner  had  war 
been  declared  than  the  English  Colonies  awoke  to  a 
realization  that  they  were  completely  surrounded  on 
the  north  and  west  by  the  French.  Immediately  the 
armies  of  New  France  began  to  press  upon  the  English 
frontiers.  It  became  evident  that  it  was  the  ambition 
of  France  "  to  grasp  the  entire  continent." 

The  Second  .Colonial  Period  witnessed  a  desperate 
and  bloody  struggle  between  England  and  France  foi 


THE  SECOND   COLONIAL  PERIOD.  41 

North  America.  Its  outcome  was  of  vast  importance. 
Had  France  won,  it  would  have  changed  the  destiny  of 
the  new  world.  War  followed  war.  Queen  Anne's 
War,  King  George's  War,  and  the  final  and  decisive 
French  and  Indian  War  came  rapidly  one  16Q2 

after  the  Other.  craft  delusion 

at  Salem. 

The  lack  of  union  among  the   thirteen  1689-1697. 
Colonies  and  the  long  unprotected  border  ^William>s 
gave  the  French  a  great  advantage.     As  1702-1713. 

Queen  Anne's 

these  wars  were  but  the  echoes  of  European  War. 
struggles,  England  had  all  that  she  could 
manage  at  home.     The  Colonies  soon  found  and  Spain 

1744-1748. 

that  they  could  not  rely  upon  the  mother  King  George's 
country,  that  they  must   fight  for   them-  1752*  The 
selves,   whatever   were   the   odds    against  a 
them,  or  be  pushed  into  the  Atlantic. 


REQUIRED    READING.  —  "  The    Story    of    the 
French   and  English  Wars,"  in  Parkman's   Con-   1755.    Brad- 
spiracy  of  Pontiac,  I.  95-141  .  dock's  defeat. 

1755.    Lisbon 

Union.  —  Here  was  born  the  first  real  earthquake. 

•j       £  •  •     ^  T^  T^  1757-   Lord 

idea  of  union,  —  union  against  France.     It  ciive  wins 

was  born  of  the  neglect  of  England  for  her  land? 
American  offspring,  it  was  nourished  by  JJ63^  Endofj 

*     the  French  and 

the   foolish   continental   wars   which    she  Indian  War. 

.     i    T       T    .  i  •   -I      •        A  •  ,    1763.    The  Con- 

indulged  in,  wars  which  in  America,  at  spiracyof 
least,  were  without  results  or  glory. 

In  1690,  delegates  from  Massachusetts,  Plymouth, 
Connecticut,  and  New  York  had  met  in  New  York 
to  concert  measures  against  the  French,  and  this  had 
been  the  beginning  of  many  similar  conventions.  The 


42  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

tenacity  of  local  ideas  and  aims,  that  had  tended  to 
keep  the  Colonies  apart,  vanished  before  a  common 
danger.  Although  the  Union  was  at  first  only  a  frail 
affair,  not  involving  all  the  Colonies,  and  having  no 
reference  to  anything  but  temporary  results,  it  was 
significant, 

England  had  added  greatly  to  her  own  strength  by 
her  wars  with  France  and  Spain,  but  she  had  uncon- 
sciously taught  her  Colonies  two  great  secrets,  —  first, 
the  strength  of  union,  and  second,  the  sturdy  self-reli- 
ance which  afterwards  won  for  them  their  independence. 

A  Transition  Period.  —  The  seventy-seven  years  of  the 
Second  Colonial  Period  witnessed  great  changes  in  the 
life  and  spirit  of  the  Colonies.  Old  ideals  were  break- 
ing down  on  every  hand.  The  clergy  began  gradually 
to  lose  their  supreme  power  in  intellectual  affairs.  The 
laymen  were  turning  their  minds  to  their  worldly  sur- 
roundings, and  were  fast  losing  the  intense  religious 
absorption  of  earlier  days.  Commerce  began  to  flourish ; 
the  cities  of  Boston,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia 
became  busy  centres  of  trade;  the  shipping  industry 
grew  with  wonderful  vigor.  The  Colonial  wars  and  the 
politics  of  the  times,  the  struggles  with  charters  and 
arbitrary  governors,  had  all  tended  to  turn  the  minds  of 
the  colonists  from  their  souls  to  their  bodies  and  their 
surroundings.  Superstition  was  dying  a  natural  death. 
Dr.  Boylston  successfully  inoculated  for  small-pox  in 
Boston,  thus  robbing  this  dread  disease  of  much  of  its 
terrors.  The  witchcraft  delusion,  "that  last  spasm  of 
expiring  Puritanism/'  did  much  to  do  away  with  the 


THE  SECOND   COLONIAL  PERIOD.  43 

belief  in  miracles  and  mysteries.  On  all  sides  the  mists 
of  prejudice  and  intolerance  were  clearing  away,  and  the 
east  was  red  with  the  dawning  of  a  new  morning. 

The  Newspaper  was  an  important  agent  1663.   First 
in   the   intellectual    emancipation   of    the         ™h    newfih 


Colonies.     The  first  attempt  at  journalism  1711-1714.  Addi 

son's  Spectator 

was  made  in  1690,  when  a  little  publica-   (London). 

,  ,    ,    ,,  1090.    Public 

tion,  more  a  pamphlet  than  a  newspaper,   Occurrences. 


was   issued  in    Boston    under   the   name 
Public  Occurrences.     This  was  intended  to  ter- 

1719.    Boston 

be  issued  monthly,  but  it  was  quickly  sup-  Gazette. 
pressed  by  the  General  Court.     The  Boston  weekly  Mercury. 
News-Letter  followed  in  1704,  and  in  1719  1725-   Firs* 

newspaper  in 

came  the  Boston  Gazette,  printed,  though  New  York. 
not  edited,  by  James  Franklin,  the  brother  of  Benjamin 
Franklin.  The  American  Weekly  Mercury,  of  Philadel- 
phia, was  established  one  day  later.  The  New  England 
Courant,  famous  from  its  connection  with  the  early 
career  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  followed  next  in  order, 
in  1721.  It  was  edited  as  well  as  printed  by  James 
Franklin.  "  I  remember,"  says  the  Autobiography,  "  his 
being  dissuaded  by  some  of  his  friends  from  the  under- 
taking, as  not  likely  to  succeed,  one  newspaper  being, 
in  their  judgment,  enough  for  America."  Nevertheless, 
newspapers  multiplied  rapidly,  until  at  the  close  of  the 
period  there  were  in  all  the  Colonies  at  least  forty.  In 
1741,  Franklin  established  in  Philadelphia  The  Greneral 
Magazine  and  Historical  Chronicle  for  All  the  British 
Provinces  in  America.  Although  published  only  six 
months,  and  containing  little  of  literary  value,  this  paper 


44  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

is  of  interest,  since  it  was  the  first  attempt  in  America 
to  found  a  literary  magazine. 

The  Literature  of  the  Period  does  not  much  differ  from 
that  produced  during  the  first  era.  It  was  still  prevail- 
ingly religious  in  its  character.  The  poetry  clumsily 
followed  the  artificial  models  of  the  school  of  Pope  and 
was  for  the  most  part  unnatural  and  worthless.  The 
period,  however,  produced  three  writers  of  high  rank, 
—  Cotton  Mather,  Jonathan  Edwards,  and  Benjamin 
Franklin,  the  last  two  attaining  to  international  renown. 
These,  with  Samuel  Sewall  and  Governor  Hutchinson, 
are  all  that  need  be  mentioned  in  a  brief  history  of  the 
period. 

1,   SAMUEL  SEWALL  (1662-1730). 

"  The  Puritan  Pepys." 

The  work  done  by  Bradford  and  Winthrop  during 
the  early  days  of  New  England  was  continued  by  Samuel 
The  Selling  of  Sewall,  who  kept  a  faithful  journal  between 
$$$;  the  years  1673  and  1729.  Sewall  was  born 

in  England,  coming  with  his  father  to 
America  while  yet  a  boy,  and  after  a  course  at  Harvard, 
settled  down  to  the  law.  He  married  the  daughter  of 
John  Hull,  the  rich  mint  master  of  Massachusetts,  who 
gave  him  a  fortune.  In  time  he  became  the  Chief 
Justice  of  Massachusetts.  During  the  witchcraft  trials 
at  Salem,  he  was  a  conspicuous  figure  among  the  judges, 
but,  becoming  convinced  of  his  error  later  in  life,  he  did 
what  he  could  to  atone  for  his  part  in  the  miserable 
affair  by  making  a  public  confession  in  church. 


THE  SECOND   COLONIAL  PERIOD.  45 

Sewall's  diary,  which  is  now  in  the  hands  of  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Association,  is  a  minute  record 
of  the  domestic  and  public  life  of  its  author  and  con- 
tains much  valuable  historical  matter.  It  covers  the 
period  of  the  Quaker  persecutions,  King  Philip's  War, 
and  the  English  Revolution  of  1688. 

Justice  Sewall  was  a  strong  writer  on  many  topics. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  to  protest  against  African 
slavery.  His  little  tract,  The  Selling  of  Joseph^  a 
powerful  and  impassioned  plea  against  this  evil,  is 
still  readable. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Whittier's  "Prophecy  of  Samuel 
Sewall";  Hawthorne's  "The  Pine  Tree  Shillings,"  in  Grand* 
father's  Chair,  i.  ch.  6.  See  also  "A  Puritan  Pepys,"  with  ex- 
tracts from  the  diary,  in  Lodge's  Studies  in  History,  p.  21. 


2.   COTTON  MATHER  (1663-1728). 

"In  him  the  Puritan  Age  culminated  and  came  to  an  end."— » 
Greenough  White. 

Life  (by  his  son  Samuel,  1729 ;  by  Sparks,  in  Ameri- 
can Biography ;  by  Marvin,  Life  and  Times  of  Cotton 
Mather,  1892;  by  Barrett  Wendell,  1891).  Memorable 
For  four   generations    the    Mather  family  P™vi?ences^ 

J     Wonders  o_f  the 

was  prominent  in  the  intellectual  history  Invisible  World. 
of    New   England.      Richard    Mather,    its  Good** 
founder,  had  left  his  church  in  England  %£?£$** 
rather    than    wear    a    surplice ;    had    mi-  Americana. 
grated  to  the  new  world,  and  had   left  as   his  monu- 
ment his  work  on  the  old  Bay  Psalm  Book.     But  the 


46  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

star  of  the  Mather  family  was  to  increase  in  brilliancy 
with  each  generation.     An  old  epitaph  records  that 

"  Under  this  stone  lies  Richard  Mather, 
Who  had  a  son  greater  than  his  father, 
And  eke  a  grandson  greater  than  either." 

The  son  was  Increase  Mather,  renowned  for  learning 
and  eloquence,  president  of  Harvard  College  from 
1685  to  1701,  pastor  of  the  old  North  Church  until 
his  death;  while  the  grandson,  the  crowning  glory  of 
all,  was  Cotton  Mather,  "  the  literary  behemoth  of  New 
England  in  our  Colonial  Era."  No  man  was  ever  more 
fortunate  in  his  ancestry.  His  maternal  grandfather 
was  the  famous  Boston  divine,  John  Cotton.  From 
his  ancestors  on  both  sides  he  inherited  all  the  earnest- 
ness and  obstinacy,  all  the  fine  intellect  as  well  as  the 
superstition  and  gloom  of  the  early  Puritans.  He  was 
the  quintessence  of  Puritanism. 

The  stories  of  Cotton  Mather's  wonderful  precocity 
sound  strangely  unreal  in  these  days.  He  seems  never 
to  have  had  a  childhood.  Hebrew  and  Greek  and 
Latin  early  became  to  him  as  his  mother  tongue.  At 
fifteen  he  had  received  his  degree  at  Harvard  College 
with  the  highest  possible  honors  of  the  institution,  and 
at  twenty-two  he  was  his  father's  assistant  in  the  old 
North  Church,  succeeding  him  in  due  time  as  pastor. 

The  Witchcraft  Delusion.  —  Mather's  life  was  one  of 
ceaseless  activity.  "To  preach  seventy  sermons  in 
public,"  observes  one  writer,  "forty  more  in  private, 
keep  thirty  vigils  and  sixty  fasts,  and  still  have  time 
for  persecuting  witches,  was  nothing  unusual  for  him 


THE  SECOND   COLONIAL  PERIOD.  47 

to  do  in  a  year."  As  a  voluminous  pamphleteer  he  has 
had  few  equals,  his  published  works  numbering  nearly 
four  hundred.  He  is,  perhaps,  most  widely  known 
from  his  connection  with  the  Salem  witchcraft  de- 
lusion of  1692.  To  Cotton  Mather  evil  spirits  and 
"  unlovely  demons "  in  the  shape  of  men  and  women 
were  as  real  as  were  the  facts  of  his  daily  life.  His 
Memorable  Providences  Relating  to  Witchcraft,  written 
apparently  with  perfect  honesty  and  published  in  1689, 
served  as  a  fan  for  the  fire  smouldering  in  Salem. 
Four  years  later,  when  men  like  Justice  Sewall  were 
bitterly  repenting  of  their  part  in  the  terrible  tragedy, 
Mather  published  his  Wonders  of  the  Invisible  World, 
a  cold-blooded  account  of  the  trials  and  executions  at 
Salem,  every  word  pregnant  with  the  belief  that  devils 
and  not  human  beings  had  been  dealt  with.  That  he 
was  intensely  honest  in  all  this  need  not  be  said.  His 
terrible  convictions  triumphing  over  his  naturally  kind 
heart  would  not  have  allowed  him  to  hesitate  even  had 
the  evidence  involved  his  son  Samuel. 

The  Magnalia. — (Richardson,  1. 131-137,  with  extract.) 
In  1702  Mather's  magnum  opus,  the  ponderous  Magnalia 
Ohristi  Americana,  was  printed  in  London.  "It  is  a 
strange,  pedantic  history,"  says  Hawthorne,  "in  which 
true  events  and  real  personages  move  before  the  reader 
with  the  dreamy  aspect  which  they  wore  in  Cotton 
Mather's  singular  mind."  The  text  fairly  groans  with 
quotations  and  citations  from  every  known  and  unknown 
tongue,  with  allusions  to  quaint  and  forgotten  history 
dragged  in  by  force  to  display  the  author's  amazing 
erudition. 


48  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Mather  intended  this  work  to  be  the  complete  and 
final  history  of  his  time.  He  failed  simply  because  he 
lacked  the  indispensable  qualifications  of  the  historian. 
He  was  intensely  prejudiced.  His  horizon,  in  spite 
of  his  education,  was  a  narrow  one.  Notwithstanding 
his  wonderful  opportunity  in  a  time  when  he  might 
have  verified  his  every  statement  by  documents  and 
sources  of  history  now  lost  forever,  he  must  be  read 
with  suspicion.  Rather  than  tell  the  simple  tale  of  his 
times  he  preferred  to  display  his  classical  verbiage  and 
lose  himself  in  a  chaos  of  visions.  The  Magnolia,  how- 
ever, is  not  wholly  without  value.  "  There  are  in  it 
lodged  many  single  facts  of  the  utmost  value,  personal 
reminiscences,  social  gossip,  snatches  of  conversation, 
touches  of  description,  traits  of  character  and  life  that 
can  be  found  nowhere  else."  —  Tyler. 

One  little  book  of  Mather's  should  not  be  overlooked. 
Franklin,  in  a  letter  to  Samuel  Mather,  once  declared 
that  the  little  volume,  Essays  to  do  G-ood,  had  been  one 
of  the  strongest  influences  for  good  that  had  ever 
affected  his  life. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Hawthorne's  Grandfather's  Chair,  ii. 
chs.  4  and  5.  Whittier's  "  Garrison  of  Cape  Ann."  Longfellow's 
"  The  Phantom  Ship." 

3.  JONATHAN  EDWARDS  (1703-1758). 
"The  most  eminent  of  American  metaphysicians."  — Eichardson. 

The  representative  character  of  the  Second  Colonial 
Period,  and  by  all  means  the  most  conspicuous  figure 
in  our  early  intellectual  history,  was  Jonathan  Edwards. 


THE  SECOND   COLONIAL  PERIOD.  41 

In  a  transition  period  he  stood  in  a  curious  way  be- 
tween the  new  and  the  old.     He  clung  fast  to  the  old 
Puritan  ideas  of  original  sin,  of  predestina-  A  Treatise  on 
tion  and  the  terrors  of  punishment  at  the 


hands  of  an  angry  God.     His  awful  idea  An  inquiry  into 

.  the  Freedom  of 

of  God  can  be  shown  in  a  brief  quotation,     the  Will. 

"  The  God  that  holds  you  over  the  pit  of  hell,  much  as  one  holds 
a  spider  or  some  loathsome  insect  over  the  fire,  abhors  you  and  is 
dreadfully  provoked.  ...  If  you  cry  to  God  to  pity  you,  he  will 
be  so  far  from  pitying  you  in  your  doleful  case  that  he  will  only 
tread  you  under  foot.  .  .  .  He  will  crush  out  your  blood  and 
make  it  fly,  and  it  shall  be  sprinkled  on  all  his  garments  so  as  to 
stain  all  his  raiment."  —  Sinners  in  the  Hands  of  an  Angry  God. 

And  yet,  Edwards  was  exceedingly  sensitive  and 
susceptible  to  new  ideas.  In  an  unscientific  age  he 
was  an  eager  student  of  the  laws  of  nature.  He  sought 
earnestly  for  the  light  wherever  it  might  lead  him.  In 
his  metaphysical  work  so  far  was  he  ahead  of  his  age 
that  his  writings  are  regarded  as  authorities  in  modern 
times.  His  searching  mind  and  catholic  soul  were  ever 
ready  to  recognize  truth,  no  matter  what  havoc  it  might 
play  with  preconceived  notions. 

Life  (by  Samuel  Hopkins  ;  by  Sereno  Edwards 
Dwight;  by  A.  V.  G.  Allen).  Edwards  was  born  at 
East  Windsor,  Connecticut,  in  1703.  While  a  mere 
youth,  he  delighted  in  philosophy,  writing,  at  the  age 
of  thirteen,  profound  letters  concerning  the  nature  of 
the  soul,  and  the  exposition  of  the  theology  of  Calvin. 

While  a  sophomore  at  Yale  College,  he  chanced  upon 
a  copy  of  Locke's  Essay  on  the  Human  Understanding. 


50  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

He  tells  us  that  he  read  this  with  a  greater  delight 
"  than  the  most  greedy  miser  finds  when  gathering  up 
handfuls  of  silver  and  gold  from  some  newly  disclosed 
treasure."  This  eager  thirst  for  knowledge  never  left 
him.  He  trained  himself  to  read,  pen  in  hand,  equal- 
ling in  energy  and  steadfast  purpose  the  studious  Cotton 
Mather  of  an  earlier  generation.  Graduating  at  Yale 
in  1720,  he  was  for  a  short  time  a  tutor  in  the  college, 
soon  afterwards  becoming  a  pastor,  first  in  the  church 
at  Northampton,  Massachusetts,  and  then  among  the 
Stockbridge  Indians.  Three  months  before  his  death 
he  became  president  of  Princeton  College. 

Although,  like  most  of  the  clergymen  of  his  day, 
Edwards  was  a  voluminous  writer,  his  works  belong  to 
theology  and  metaphysics  rather  than  to  literature. 
However,  "  there  is  an  intensity,"  notes  Professor 
Beers,  "and  a  spiritual  elevation  about  them,  apart 
from  the  profundity  and  acuteness  of  the  thought, 
which  lift  them  here  and  there  into  the  finer  ether 
of  purely  emotional  or  imaginative  art." 

The  Freedom  of  the  Will.  —  Although  Edwards  pub- 
lished thirty-six  different  books,  his  fame  chiefly  depends 
upon  one  master  work  bearing  the  formidable  title  : 

"  A  Careful  and  Strict  Inquiry  into  the  Modern  Notion  of  that 
Freedom  of  Will  which  is  Supposed  to  be  Essential  to  Moral  Agency, 
Virtue  and  Vice,  Reward  and  Punishment,  Praise  and  Blame" 

This  learned  metaphysical  discussion  supports  the 
doctrine  laid  down  by  Calvin,  that  the  will  is  not  self- 
determined  and  free,  that  man  does  not  act  by  virtue 
of  a  free  choice,  but  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  a 


THE  SECOND  COLONIAL  PERIOD.  51 

supreme  ruling  power.  The  book  is  as  abstruse  to  the 
average  reader  as  a  treatise  on  the  higher  mathematics. 
It  has  furnished  a  field  for  much  argument  from  the 
time  of  its  first  appearance  until  the  present.  Some 
of  the  profoundest  metaphysicians  of  the  century  have 
assailed  it,  but  it  seems  to  be  impregnable. 

In  curious  contrast  with  this  ponderous  work  stands 
the  little  volume  A  Treatise  on  the  Religious  Affections, 
full  of  sweetness  and  rapt  spiritual  character,  and  often 
very  near  to  poetry  in  its  lofty  conceptions  and  gentle 
spirit. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Selections  from  Holmes'  "  Jonathan 
Edwards,"  in  Pages  from  an  Old  Volume  of  Life. 


4.   THOMAS  HUTCHINSON  (1711-1780). 

*'  For  rntellectual  gifts  and  accomplishments,  he  stood  far  above  all 
the  other  Colonial  governors."  —  John  Fiske. 

Life.  —  (The  only  life  of  Governor  Hutchinson  is 
that  written  by  J.  K.  Hosmer,  1896.  His  Diary  and 
Letters  were  published  for  the  first  time 
in  1884-1886.  See  also  Hosmer's  Samuel 
Adams. 

All  of  the  Colonial  governors  of  Massa- 
chusetts  seem  to  have  been  impressed  with 
the  idea  that  they  must  give  to  posterity  a  faithful 
record  of  all  their  doings.  Thomas  Hutchinson,  the  last 
of  the  governors  under  British  rule,  conceived  the  idea 
of  writing  a  complete  history  of  the  province  from  the 
time  of  the  first  settlement  until  the  Revolutionary 


52  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

War.  To  this  he  gave  the  title  The  History  of  Massa- 
chusetts Bay,  publishing  it  in  three  volumes,  the  last  one 
appearing  one  year  after  the  author's  death. 

Governor  Hutchinson  was  fortunate  in  respect  to 
materials  for  his  work,  having  access  to  many  documents 
and  sources  of  information  long  since  lost.  From  these 
he  compiled,  with  excellent  judgment  and  rare  scholar- 
ship, a  work  which  will  always  be  regarded  as  the  highest 
authority.  The  author  was  not  pleasing  to  the  people 
of  the  Colonies  on  account  of  his  Tory  principles,  and 
for  this  reason  his  history  never  became  a  popular  one. 

REQUIRED    READING.  —  Selection*  from  Hutchinson's  History. 


IV. 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN. 

1706-1790. 

"  The  first  philosopher  and  indeed  the  first  great  man  of  letters  for 
whom  we  are  beholden  to  America."  — David  Hume. 

Pennsylvania.  —  (See  Gold  win  Smith's  On  the  Foun- 
dation of  the  American  Colonies,  26  ;  also  Tyler,  II.,  225.) 
The  life  and  work  of  Benjamin  Franklin  Autobiography. 
turn  our  eyes  for  the  first  time  toward  Father  Abra- 

«'  ham  s  Speech. 

the  Middle  Colonies.     The  Plantation  of  Essays  and 
Pennsylvania,  with  which  his  life  after  the    works  in  10 
age  of  seventeen  was  identified,  has  in  its  vo1' 
history  much  to  remind  one  of  early  New  England.     It 
was  settled  by  those  who  came  for  conscience'  sake. 
The  Quakers  were  as  zealous  in  their  efforts  to  found 
schools  as  were  the  men  of  Massachusetts;  they  were 
as  unworldly,  as  serious,  and  as  intellectual  as  were  the 
Puritans  themselves.     Unlike  the  Puritans,  they  were 
not  persecutors,  nor  did  they  ever  interfere  with  the 
liberty  of  the  press. 

Early  in  the  eighteenth  century,  about  the  time  that 
Franklin  appeared  in  Philadelphia,  that  city  was  the 
centre  of  literary  activity  second  only  to  Boston.  It  is 
said  that  there  are  now  in  the  old  library  of  Philadel- 
phia, "  four  hundred  and  twenty-five  original  books  and 

53 


54  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

pamphlets  that  were  printed  in  that  city  before  the 
Revolution."  —  Whartorfs  Prov.  Lit.  of  Pa. 

Thomas  Godfrey.  —  (Tyler,  244-251,  with  extract.) 
Most  of  these  early  writers  have  been  forgotten  though 
some  have  found  immortality  in  The  Autobiography. 
Only  one,  Thomas  Godfrey,  son  of  the  Thomas  Godfrey 
mentioned  by  Franklin,  deserves  consideration  here. 
Born  in  Philadelphia  in  1736,  he  became  a  watchmaker 
and  a  writer  of  verses,  dying  at  the  early  age  of  twenty- 
eight.  Two  years  after  his  death  there  appeared  in 
Philadelphia  his  collected  verses  entitled  Juvenile  Poems 
on  Various  Subjects ;  with  the  Prince  of  Parthia,  a 
Tragedy.  The  poems  possess  little  merit,  but  the  drama 
is  a  strong  production.  It  being  the  first  dramatic  com- 
position produced  in  America,  its  young  author  enjoys 
the  distinction  of  being  the  father  of  the  American 
drama. 

Life  of  Franklin.  —  (Biographies  of  Franklin  in  Eng- 
lish, French,  and  German,  and  studies  of  his  life-work 
and  character,  by  many  eminent  writers,  are  numerous. 
Any  one  wishing  the  complete  list  should  consult  The 
Franklin  Bibliography  of  all  the  works  written  by  or 
relating  to  Franklin,  by  Paul  L.  Ford,  Brooklyn,  1889. 
The  most  helpful  Lives  for  school  use  are  by  Jared 
Sparks,  1844;  by  James  Parton,  1864;  by  John  T. 
Morse,  Jr.,  1890.  See  also  Everett's  Boyhood  and  Youth 
of  Franklin,  and  Hale's  Franklin  in  France,  1877.  The 
most  useful  books,  however,  to  the  student  of  American 
Literature  are  The  Autobiography,  completed  by  Bige- 
low,  and  Benjamin  Franklin  as  a  Man  of  Letters,  by 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN.  55 

J.  Bach  McMaster,  1890.)  Whoever  attempts,  even 
briefly,  to  tell  the  story  of  Franklin's  life,  does  so 
under  great  disadvantages,  for  a  comparison  with  The 
Autobiography  is  sure  to  result.  The  biographer  can  do 
no  better  than  quote  frequently  from  this  work. 

The  Early  Life  of  Franklin. —  "My  father  married  young,  and 
carried  his  wife,  with  three  children,  to  New  England  about  1685. 
.  .  .  His  family  increased  to  seventeen,  of  whom  I  remember  to 
have  seen  thirteen  sitting  together  at  his  table,  who  all  grew  up  to 
years  of  maturity  and  were  married.  I  was  the  youngest  son  and 
the  youngest  of  all  the  children  except  two  daughters.  I  was  born 
in  Boston  in  New  England.  My  mother,  the  second  wife  of  my 
father,  was  Abiah  Folger,  daughter  of  Peter  Folger,  one  of  the 
first  settlers  of  New  England,  of  whom  honorable  mention  is  made 
by  Cotton  Mather  in  his  ecclesiastical  history  of  that  country, 
entitled  Magnolia  Christi  Americana.  .  .  .  My  elder  brothers 
were  all  put  apprentices  to  different  trades.  I  was  put  to  the 
grammar  school  at  eight  years  of  age,  my  father  intending  to 
devote  me,  as  the  tithe  of  his  sons,  to  the  service  of  the  church. 
My  early  readiness  in  learning  to  read,  which  must  have  been  very 
early,  as  I  do  not  remember  when  I  could  not  read,  and  the  opinion 
of  all  his  friends  that  I  should  certainly  make  a  good  scholar, 
encouraged  him  in  this  purpose  of  his.  My  uncle  Benjamin,  too, 
approved  of  it,  and  proposed  to  give  me  his  short-hand  volumes  of 
sermons,  to  set  up  with,  if  I  would  learn  his  short-hand.  I  con- 
tinued however  at  the  grammar  school  rather  less  than  a  year, 
though  in  that  time  I  had  risen  gradually  from  the  middle  class  of 
that  year  to  be  at  the  head  of  the  same  class,  and  was  removed 
into  the  next  class,  whence  I  was  to  be  placed  in  the  third  at  the 
end  of  the  year. 

"  But  my  father,  burdened  with  a  numerous  family,  was  unable, 
without  inconvenience,  to  support  the  expense  of  a  college  educa- 
tion. Considering,  moreover,  as  he  said  to  one  of  his  friends  in 
my  presence,  the  little  encouragement  that  line  afforded  to  those 
educated  for  it,  he  gave  up  his  first  intentions,  took  me  from  the 
grammar  school  and  sent  me  to  a  school  for  writing  and  arithmetic 


56  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

kept  by  a  then  famous  man,  Mr.  George  Brown  well.  .  .  .  Under 
him  I  learned  to  write  a  good  hand  pretty  soon,  but  failed  entirely 
in  arithmetic.  At  ten  years  old  I  was  taken  to  help  my  father  in 
his  business,  which  was  that  of  a  tallow  chandler  and  soap  boiler, 
a  business  to  which  he  was  not  bred,  but  had  assumed  on  his  arri- 
val in  New  England,  because  he  found  that  his  dyeing  trade  being 
in  little  request,  would  not  maintain  his  family.  Accordingly,  I 
was  employed  in  cutting  wicks  for  the  candles,  filling  the  moulds 
for  cast  candles,  attending  to  the  shop,  going  of  errands,  etc.  ... 
I  continued  thus  in  my  father's  business  for  two  years,  that  is  till  I 
was  twelve  years  old ;  and  my  brother  John,  who  was  bred  to  that- 
business,  having  left  my  father,  married  and  set  up  in  business  in 
Rhode  Island,  there  was  every  appearance  that  I  was  destined  to 
supply  his  place  and  become  a  tallow  chandler.  But  my  dislike  to 
the  trade  continuing,  my  father  had  apprehension  that,  if  he  did 
not  put  me  to  one  more  agreeable,  I  should  break  loose  and  go  to 
sea  as  my  brother  Josiah  had  done,  to  his  great  vexation.  .  .  . 
From  my  infancy  I  was  passionately  fond  of  reading  and  all  the 
money  that  came  into  my  hands  was  laid  out  in  the  purchasing  of 
books.  .  .  .  This  bookish  inclination  at  length  determined  my 
father  to  make  me  a  printer,  though  ne  had  already  one  son  James 
of  that  profession.  In  1717  my  brother  James  returned  from 
England  with  a  press  and  letters  to  set  up  his  business  in  Boston. 
I  liked  it  much  better  than  that  of  my  father,  but  still  had  a 
hankering  for  the  sea.  To  prevent  the  apprehended  effect  of  such 
an  inclination,  my  father  was  impatient  to  have  me  bound  to  my 
brother.  I  stood  out  some  time,  but  at  last  was  persuaded  and 
signed  the  indenture  when  I  was  but  twelve  years  old."  —  The 
A  utobiography. 

In  Philadelphia.  —  Franklin's  story  of  his  early  at- 
tempts at  self-improvement  should  be  read  by  every 
youth.  In  his  brother's  office  he  learned  rapidly,  but 
he  seems  to  have  had  numerous  difficulties  with  his 
master,  and  at  the  age  of  seventeen  we  find  him  run- 
ning away  to  New  York.  Not  finding  work  there,  he 
proceeded  to  Philadelphia.  The  next  year  he  was 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN.  57 

lured  by  Sir  William  Keith  to  London,  and  soon  found 
himself  penniless.  Here  he  worked  with  great  indus- 
try for  two  years.  Late  in  1826  he  was  again  in 
Philadelphia,  and  during  the  next  year  in  company 
with  another  young  journeyman  was  enabled  to  order 
press  and  types  from  England  and  set  up  in  business 
independently.  In  1730,  he  bought  the  Pennsylvania 
Gazette,  and  from  this  time  his  progress  toward  fame 
and  power  was  very  rapid.  His  paper  exerted  a  wide 
influence  both  in  literature  and  politics.  It  strongly 
advocated  everything  that  promised  good  to  the  public. 
Through  Franklin's  influence  a  public  library  was 
started  in  Philadelphia;  he  founded  the  American 
Philosophical  Society  and  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. In  1753,  he  was  appointed  Postmaster  General 
for  the  Colonies,  when  he  at  once  revolutionized  the 
mail  service  of  the  times.  He  spared  no  labor  for 
the  public  good.  At  one  time  he  made  a  carriage 
journey  of  six  months  through  the  Colonies,  visiting 
every  office.  He  was  sent  several  times  to  England  as 
ambassador  to  the  king  in  behalf  of  the  Colonies,  and, 
in  1766,  secured  the  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  Stamp 
Act.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress 
of  1775,  and  of  all  the  important  conventions  until 
after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution.  During  the 
Revolution  he  was  minister  to  England  and  France,  at 
which  time  his  services  can  hardly  be  overestimated. 
His  Biography  is  in  reality  a  history  of  the  most  import- 
ant epoch  in  our  nation's  life.  He  died  in  Philadelphia 
at  the  ripe  age  of  eighty-four. 


58  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Poor  Richard's  Almanac.  —  (See  Parton's  Life  and 
Times  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  L,  227-240.)  Franklin 
did  more  for  literature  as  an  influence  than  as  an  actual 
producer.  He  was  only  incidentally  a  man  of  letters. 
He  was  greater  as  a  statesman,  a  diplomatist,  a  scien- 
tist, than  as  a  writer,  and  yet  his  literary  productions 
are  of  great  value.  Perhaps  the  best  known  of  all  his 
writings  are  the  series  of  essays  and  proverbs  which 
appeared  originally  in  Poor  Richard's  Almanac,  an 
annual  publication  which  was  first  issued  in  1733,  bear- 
ing the  pseudonym  "Richard  Saunders,  Philomath," 
and  which  was  continued  with  great  success  for  nearly 
quarter  of  a  century. 

"  I  endeavored  to  make  it  both  entertaining  and  useful ;  and  it 
accordingly  came  to  be  in  such  demand  that  I  reaped  considerable 
profit  from  it,  vending  annually  near  ten  thousand.  And  observ- 
ing that  it  was  generally  read,  scarce  any  neighborhood  being  with- 
out it,  I  considered  it  as  a  proper  vehicle  for  conveying  instruction 
among  the  common  people,  who  bought  scarcely  any  other  books ; 
I  therefore  filled  all  the  little  spaces  that  occurred  between  the 
remarkable  days  in  the  calendar  with  proverbial  sentences,  chiefly 
such  as  inculcated  industry  and  frugality  as  the  means  of  procur- 
ing wealth,  and  thereby  securing  virtue ;  it  being  more  difficult  for 
a  man  in  want  to  act  always  honestly,  as,  to  use  here  one  of  those 
proverbs,  *  it  is  hard  for  an  empty  sack  to  stand  upright.'  These 
proverbs,  which  contain  the  wisdom  of  many  ages  and  nations,  I 
assembled  and  formed  into  a  connected  discourse,  prefixed  to  the 
almanac  of  1757,  as  the  harangue  of  a  wise  old  man  to  the  people 
attending  an  auction.  The  bringing  all  these  scattered  counsels 
thus  into  a  focus  enabled  them  to  make  greater  impression.  The 
piece,  being  universally  approved,  was  copied  in  all  the  newspapers 
of  the  continent ;  reprinted  in  Britain  on  a  broadside  to  be  stuck  up 
in  houses ;  two  translations  were  made  of  it  in  French,  and  great 
numbers  bought  by  the  clergy  and  gentry  to  distribute  gratis 
among  their  poor  parishioners  and  tenants.'* —  The  Autobiography. 


&ENJAMIN  FRANKLIN.  59 

Franklin's  proverbs   have   become    household  words. 
Every  one  has  heard  from  childhood, 

"  Early  to  bed  and  early  to  rise  makes  a  man  healthy,  wealthy, 
and  wise." 

"  God  helps  them  that  help  themselves." 

"  Keep  thy  shop,  and  thy  shop  will  keep  thee." 

"  Three  removes  are  as  bad  as  a  fire." 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "  Father  Abraham's  Speech."     See  also 
Riverside  Literature  Series,  No.  24. 

THE  AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

"The  best  Autobiography  in  the  language." 
"Eranklin  is  his  own  BoswelL"  — Lawrence. 

This  work,  written  in  the  seventy-ninth  year  of  his 
age,  is  Franklin's  chief  contribution  to  literature.  It 
tells  the  story  of  his  life  up  to  the  year  1757.  After 
reading  it  one  has  a  perfect  picture  of  its  author.  It 
has  become  the  world's  model  for  an  autobiography. 
Nowhere  in  literature  can  we  find  a  more  complete  open- 
ing of  an  author's  heart  to  the  public.  Its  popularity 
has  been  wonderful,  fifty  editions  having  been  disposed 
of  in  this  country  alone. 

The  history  of  the  manuscript  of  the  work  has  been 
an  interesting  one.  The  grandson  of  Franklin,  who 
was  a  Tory  pensioner,  caused  the  work  to  be  suppressed. 
It  was  printed,  however,  in  French  in  1791,  but  not  till 
1817  was  it  published  in  the  original  English.  In  John 
Bigelow's  edition  of  the  book  the  original  spelL'ng  is 
retained,  and  the  story  is  told  exactly  as  Franklin 
wrote  it. 


60  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Essays  and  Papers.  —  The  remainder  of  Franklin's 
literary  work  consists  of  essays  on  various  topics,  The 
Busybody,  a  series  after  the  style  of  Addison,  being 
prominent ;  papers  on  scientific  topics,  political  essays, 
and  letters.  Some  of  his  lighter  work,  like  "  The 
Whistle,"  and  "  Dialogue  between  Franklin  and  the 
Gout,"  have  been  very  popular. 

Franklin's  Versatility.  —  Franklin  is  the  best  example 
of  a  self-made  man  that  history  affords.  No  American 
has  ever  achieved  greatness  in  so  many  directions.  He 
ornamented  everything  that  he  touched,  whether  sci- 
ence, literature,  invention,  or  statecraft.  In  science  he 
made  the  discovery  that  electricity  is  the  cause  of  light- 
ning, and  he  wrote  papers  on  electricity  and  kindred 
subjects  that  won  the  admiration  of  Europe.  He 
invented  the  stove,  lightning  rod,  and  water-organ.  He 
organized  the  first  police  force,  and  the  first  fire  com- 
pany. His  name  is  signed  to  all  the  great  documents 
of  our  early  history.  In  addition  to  all  this,  he  was  one 
of  the  first  statesmen  of  his  age  and  perhaps  the  ablest 
representative  our  nation  has  ever  sent  abroad. 

The  value  and  the  charm  of  the  Autobiography  lie  in 
its  perfect  simplicity,  its  frankness,  and  its  seemingly 
unconscious  revelations  of  character  and  motive.  The 
far-seeing,  worldly-wise  old  man  may  possibly  have  felt 
that  the  work  sometime  would  be  demanded  by  the 
world,  but  his  immediate  object  was  to  produce  a  story 
of  his  life  and  his  wisdom  to  amuse  and  instruct  his 
grandchildren.  Hence  its  simplicity  both  in  language 
and  thought.  It  is  as  artless  and  as  free  from  conscious 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN.  61 

literary  effort  as  are  Pilgrim's  Progress,  and  Gulliver's 
Travels,  and  Robinson  Crusoe.  Aside  from  its  autobio- 
graphic facts,  its  limpid  style,  and  its  significance  as 
the  self-revelation  of  one  of  the  foremost  personalities 
of  an  important  epoch,  the  book  has  the  added  value 
of  being  a  historical  document  of  great  value.  The 
period  which  it  covers,  though  it  includes  the  least 
significant  part  of  Franklin's  life,  was  a  most  interesting 
one.  There  are  in  the  story  glimpses  everywhere  of 
men  and  affairs,  and  of  the  methods  of  an  age  which 
to-day,  despite  its  comparative  nearness,  seems  to  lie  in 
the  very  mists  of  antiquity.  It  is  not,  perhaps,  too 
much  to  say  that  Franklin's  Autobiography  is  the  one 
book  produced  in  America  during  the  Colonial  and  the 
Revolutionary  periods  which  is  still  read  to  any  extent 
on  its  merits  alone.  It  was  the  first  unquestionably  clas- 
sic work  to  be  produced  in  America. 


V. 

THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD. 

1765-1812. 

FROM  THE  STAMP  ACT  CONGRESS  TO  THE  SECOND  WAR  WITH 
ENGLAND. 

Colonial  Union.  —  We  have  already  seen  that  during 
the  preceding  period  a  new  idea  had  been  steadily  grow- 
ing throughout  the  plantations  of  America,  —  an  idea 
undreamed  of  in  earlier  days.  The  Colonies  had  been 
settled  at  different  times  and  for  widely  different  rea- 
sons. The  primary  motive  of  many  of  them  had  been 
to  seek  isolation,  to  found  a  new  order  of  things  in  a 
corner  of  the  earth.  The  mere  suggestion  of  a  union 
with  the  Colony  of  Pennsylvania,  or  indeed  with  any 
other  plantation,  would  have  made  a  Massachusetts 
Puritan  open  wide  his  eyes  in  amazement. 

But  the  thirteen  Colonies  represented  England's  share 
of  the  great  Continent  of  North  America,  and,  as  viewed 
from  across  a  thousand  leagues  of  ocean,  they  appeared 
rather  as  one  vast  possession  settled  in  thirteen  places, 
than  as  thirteen  units  with  little  connection.  British 
policy  was  ever  in  advance  of  Colonial  thought.  Eng- 
land had  recognized  her  American  possessions  as  a  unit 
almost  from  the  beginning,  passing  the  first  of  the 
Navigation  Acts  as  early  as  1651.  From  this  time 

62 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD.  63 

onward,  all  of  that  series  of  selfish  commercial  laws, 
familiar  to  the  student  of  our  early  history,  were  passed 
by  the  British  Ministry  to  affect  the  Colonies  as  a  whole. 
To  protest  successfully  against  such  laws  required  co- 
operation. A  common  grievance  furnished  a  bond  of  sym- 
pathy. After  all,  the  Colonists  were  brothers,  and  blood 
told.  It  is  not  hard  to  see  that  all  through  the  Colo- 
nial age  almost  every  circumstance  seemed  destined  to 
draw  the  Colonies  nearer  together,  and  that  the  neces- 
sity for  union  came  ever  from  English  interference. 

The  Growth  of  New  Ideas.  —  Under  the  press  of  new 
problems  the  first  motives  that  had  led  pilgrims  to  the 
New  World  were  beginning  to  be  forgotten.  Early 
prejudices  were  growing  dim.  The  tyranny  of  royal 
governors  had  forced  upon  the  Colonists  many  a  lesson 
in  politics.  The  French  wars,  besides  bringing  the  differ- 
ent sections  into  contact,  had  shown  the  people  their 
strength  and  their  weakness.  The  oppression  of  Eng- 
land's commercial  policy  had  created  a  bond  of  sympathy 
between  Colonies  that  previously  had  been  strangers  to 
each  other.  Other  agencies  were  at  work  which  need 
not  be  enumerated,  and  altogether  it  is  not  strange  that 
the  idea  of  a  permanent  union  should  have  entered  into 
the  minds  of  some.  William  Penn  had  suggested  such 
an  idea  in  1697;  Daniel  Cox  of  New  Jersey  had  discussed 
its  advantages  in  1722 ;  Franklin,  in  the  Albany  Con- 
vention of  1754,  held  at  the  opening  of  the  French  and 
Indian  War,  where  most  of  the  New  England  and  Mid- 
dle Colonies  were  represented,  had  proposed  "  a  plan  for 
the  union  of  all  the  Colonies  under  one  government," 


64  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

But  this  plan  had  been  rejected  both  by  the  English  and 
the  Americans,  each  regarding  it  as  giving  the  other  too 
much  power. 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  Franklin's  Plan  of  Union.  Old  South 
Leaflets. 

The  Year  1765. —  Union  was  finally  forced  upon  the 
Colonies.  In  1765  came  the  obnoxious  Stamp  Act,  at 
which  the  indignation  at  British  injustice  that  had  been 
increasing  for  half  a  century  burst  into  flame  from  New 
Hampshire  to  Georgia.  The  New  York  Convention  of 
1765  where  representatives  from  nine  different  Colonies 

1763  The  me^  *n  assem^y  was  ^ne  result.  It  is  sig- 
Treaty  of  Paris  nificant  that  many  of  the  leading  men  of 

ending  the  J 

French  and  in-    America,  men  who  were  to  stand  shoulder 

than  War. 

17G5.   The          to  shoulder  in  the  great  contest  for  liberty 

Stamp  Act.  ,  .   .  , 

The  Albany        which  was  soon  to  come,  here  met  each 

Convention.  ,,  r^,  .  ,,         „ 

Patrick  Henry's  other    as    strangers.      This  was    the   first 

gmia.  l  American  Congress.    It  came  to  an  end  with 

sInt'toTMa°ssa-  the  StamP  Act>  which  gave  it  birth.    Nine 

chusetts.  years  later,  after  the  Boston  Port  Bill  and 

1770.    Boston 

Massacre.  the  act  subverting  the  charter  of  Massa- 

T?a  Party.*013  chusetts,  the  famous  Continental  Congress 

1J74.   Boston  met  in  Philadelphia.     All  prejudices  were 

Continental  forgotten.     A  common  danger  made  Puri- 

Congress.  11* 

1775.   April  19.  tan   and  Quaker  meet  as  brothers.      vir- 

Battles  of  Lex-       .    .  ,         ,    .,          .-,        ^  i  •   i     ^i 

ington  and  Con-  ginia  ordered  that  the  day  on  which  the 
Boston  Port  Bill  went  into  effect  should 
be  kept  as  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer. 

The  Continental  Congress  was  designed  to  meet  only 
the  crisis  at  hand.  Had  the  grievances  been  withdrawn, 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD.  65 

it  would  have  shared  the  fate  of  the  Stamp  Act  Con- 
gress, and  no  permanent  union  would  have  been  con- 
summated. 

The  Spirit  of  the  Age.  —  The  story  of  the  Revolution 
need  not  be  told,  for  every  American  is  familiar  with 
this  important  and  desperate  struggle.  It  was  our 
Heroic  Age.  Compelled  by  force  of  circumstance,  the 
Colonists  turned  the  old  Puritan  earnestness  from  re- 
ligion to  war  and  politics.  The  magnificent  training, 
the  self-control,  the  hardy  endurance,  and  the  self- 
reliance,  that  a  century  and  a  half  of  frontier  life,  with 
its  struggle  with  rocky  fields  and  savage  men  and 
beasts,  had  developed,  stood  them  in  good  stead  now. 
They  put  all  of  their  mighty  energy  and  unconquerable 
will  into  the  contest,  but  it  was  a  task  to  discourage  the 
stoutest  heart. 

"  These  are  the  times  that  try  men's  souls,"  wrote  Thomas  Paine 
in  1776.  "The  summer  soldier  and  the  sunshine  patriot  will,  in 
this  crisis,  shrink  from  the  service  of  his  country ;  but  he  that 
stands  it  now  deserves  the  love  and  thanks  of  man  and  woman." 

Out  of  this  furnace  came  the  pure  gold  of  our  national 
character.  It  made  our  Government  and  our  literature 
possible.  When  the  struggle  was  over,  the  discordant 
voices  of  Colonial  days,  and  local  prejudices,  and  ideals, 
were  all  blended  into  one  great  homogeneous  whole. 

The  Literature  of  the  Age.  —  (Tyler's  Literary  His- 
tory of  the  American  Revolution.)  The  spirit  of  the  age 
had  a  powerful  influence  upon  its  literary  product.  Po- 
lemics gave  place  to  politics.  Dry  theologi-  1709-1784. 

r  J  5       Samuel  John- 

cal  arguments  and  pamphlet  sermons,  gave  son. 
way    to    burning    oratory    and    the    docu- 


66  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

1729-1797.  ments  and  arguments  of  statesmen.      As 

Edmund  Burke.  . 

1728-1774.  in  the  last  period,  the  literature,  since  it 

smith*   '  was  written  for  purely  practical  ends,  is 

1731-1800.  valuable  now  only  so  far  as  it  gives  us  a 

per-  knowledge  of  the  stirring  days  in  which  it 

1759-1796.  , 

Robert  Burns,  was  produced.     American  literature  writ- 
^en  ^or  its  own  sa-^e  was  almost  unknown. 


Jt  was  not  until  the  Nineteenth  Century 
moner."  ha(j    fa^iy   begun    that   Irving,   the   first 

American  man  of  letters,  appeared,  and  the  dawn  of 
American  literature  began  to  brighten. 

Three  Periods.  —  (An  excellent  bibliography  of  the 
authorities  on  the  American  Revolution  is  contained  in 
Winsor's  Handbook  of  the  American  Revolution.  The 
same  author's  History  of  America  contains  an  exhaustive 
descriptive  bibliography  of  manuscript  sources  and 
printed  authorities  on  United  States  history.  The  best 
single  history  of  the  period  is  undoubtedly  Fiske's 
American  Revolution.  Among  other  authorities  may  be 
mentioned  Green's  Historical  View  of  the  American 
Revolution;  Lossing's  Meld  Book  of  the  Revolution; 
Frank  Moore's  Diary  of  the  American  Revolution,  a  col- 
lection of  sources  of  history  ;  Frothingham's  Rise  of  the 
Republic,  and  the  biographies  and  writings  of  Washing- 
ton and  all  other  participators  in  the  war.  The  most 
valuable  and  interesting  book  for  young  people  is,  with- 
out question,  Fiske's  War  of  Independence.)  The  Revo- 
lutionary Age  may  be  subdivided  into  three  distinct 
periods  :  The  Period  of  Remonstrance,  1765-1775  ;  the 
Period  of  Resistance,  1775-1783;  and  the  Period  of 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD.  67 

Reconstruction,  1783-1812.     The  last  date,  however,  is 
a  purely  arbitrary  one. 

I.    PERIOD  OF  REMONSTRANCE. 

1765-1775. 

The  year  1765,  that  witnessed  the  Stamp  Act  Con- 
gress, the  first  organized  attempt  of  any  magnitude  to 
protest  against  the  measures  of  Great  Britain,  marks  the 
opening  of  a  new  era.  Viewed  from  a  literary  stand- 
point, the  period  is  unimportant,  although  it  is  marked 
by  the  appearance  of  several  orators  of  great  brilliancy. 
That  orators  always  precede  revolution  has  been  shown 
in  every  great  uprising  of  the  American  people.  The 
pre-Revolutionary  orators  rely  for  their  fame  chiefly  upon 
tradition.  Their  work  to  a  large  degree  has  been  lost. 
There  were  no  reporters  at  those  early  gatherings  of  the 
patriots  to  catch  the  words  that  fell  burning  from  the 
speakers'  lips,  and  the  orators  of  those  stirring  times  had 
other  things  to  do  than  record  their  own  words  for  the 
use  of  posterity.  Nevertheless,  from  the  fragments  that 
have  come  down  to  us  and  from  the  testimony  of  con- 
temporaries, we  know  that  the  orations  of  these  men 
must  have  been  full  of  intensity  and  fire,  and  that  many 
of  them  deserve  a  place  among  the  masterpieces  of  the 
world. 

1.   SAMUEL  ADAMS  (1722-1803). 

"  He,  better  than  any  one  else,  may  be  taken  as  a  representative  of 
the  people  of  New  England  and  of  the  spirit  with  which  they  engaged 
in  the  Revolutionary  struggle. "  —  Hawthorne. 

Life  (by  W.  V.  Wells,  1865 ;   by  J.  K.  Hosmer,  1885. 


68  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Both  of  these  books  are  of  great  value,  giving  vivid  and 
authentic  pictures  of  all  the  men  and  events  of  the  times 
of  which  they  treat.  For  a  scholarly  study  of  Samuel 
Adams  and  his  work,  see  Johns  Hopkins  University 
Studies,  II.,  207.  See  also  Hezekiah  Butterworth's 
Patriot  Schoolmaster,  1894,  a  book  of  interest  to  the 
young).  So  zealous  a  fighter  for  Colonial  rights  was 
this  stout-hearted  old  patriot  in  the  stormy  days  pre- 
ceding the  Revolution,  that  he  gained  the  distinction,  at 
the  time  of  the  Amnesty  of  1774,  of  being  the  only 
man,  Hancock  excepted,  that  England  could  not  pardon. 
A  native  of  Boston,  a  member  of  the  Harvard  class  of 
1740,  a  prominent  figure  in  the  Continental  Congress,  a 
signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  for  two 
years  governor  of  Massachusetts,  —  such  are  the  main 
facts  in  the  life  of  Samuel  Adams.  It  is  as  an  orator 
that  he  deserves  mention  in  a  history  of  American  litera- 
ture, though  only  fragments  of  his  fiery  oratory  have 
come  down  to  us.  Tradition,  however,  mentions  him  as 
a  speaker  to  be  compared  with  Otis  and  Quincy.  The 
writings  of  Samuel  Adams  have  never  been  collected. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Grandfather"1  s  Chair,  iii.  6. 

2.  JAMES  OTIS  (1725-1783). 
11  The  Patrick  Henry  of  New  England." 

In  1761,  after  the  act  of  Parliament  restricting  all 
manufacturing  in  the  Colonies  and  all  trade  with  other 
nations  and  even  with  the  plantations,  a  question  arose 
in  the  Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts  as  to  the  legal 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD.  69 

right  of  Parliament  to  bind  the  Colonies  to  such  an 
extent.  The  investigation  of  this  case,  which  involved 
the  very  questions  that  were  afterwards  to  . 

J    *  Vindication  of 

be  settled  by  arms,  was  conducted  for  the  the  Conduct  of 

J  the  House  of 

Crown  by  the   King's  Attorney  General,  Representa- 

fives.    1762. 

and    for    the    Colonies    by    James    Otis,  Rights  of  the 

a    young    Massachusetts    lawyer.      John  niesl asserted. 

Adams,  who  was  a  witness  of  the  trial,  Considerations 

has  given  us  this  picture  of  the  oratory  ™e^jjj^{ 

of  Otis  on  this  occasion :  1765- 

"Otis  was  a  flame  of  fire!  With  a  promptitude  of  classical 
allusion,  a  depth  of  research,  a  rapid  summary  of  historical  events 
and  dates,  a  profusion  of  legal  authorities,  a  prophetic  glance  of 
his  eyes  into  futurity,  a  rapid  torrent  of  impetuous  eloquence,  he 
hurried  away  all  before  him.  American  independence  was  then 
and  there  born.  Every  man  of  an  unusually  crowded  audience 
appeared  to  me  to  go  away  ready  to  take  up  arms  againsts  Writs 
of  Assistance.  .  .  .  James  Otis  then  and  there  breathed  into  this 
nation  the  breath  of  life." 

Life  (by  William  Tudor,  1823).  Otis  was  born  in 
West  Barnstable,  Massachusetts,  in  1725,  and  was  gradu- 
ated at  Harvard  in  1743.  His  oratory,  which  was  even 
more  impetuous  and  fiery  than  that  of  Adams,  easily 
obtained  for  him  the  leadership  of  the  patriot  party  in 
Massachusetts. 

In  1767,  at  the  very  height  of  his  usefulness  and  at 
the  very  crisis  of  affairs  in  America,  the  mind  of  the 
young  leader  failed  him.  For  fourteen  years  he  lingered 
on,  a  pitiful  ruin,  dying  in  the  very  year  that  brought 
freedom  and  peace  to  his  country.  It  is  well  known 
that  the  stirring  speech  of  the  reading  books,  so  long 


70  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

a  favorite  with  schoolboys,  was  written  by  Mrs.  Child 
as  a  part  of  her  novel,  The  Rebels. 


3.   JOSIAH  QUINCY  (1744-1775). 

Josiah  Quincy  completes  the  remarkable  trio  of  ora- 
tors that  Massachusetts  furnished  for  the  patriot  cause. 
Like  Adams  and  Otis,  he  graduated  at  Har- 

Observations  on  c 

the  Boston  Port  vard,  to  become  soon  after  prominent  as  a 
lawyer  in  Boston.  In  spite  of  a  slight 
frame  and  feeble  health,  he  had  a  voice  of  great  com- 
pass and  beauty.  His  oratory,  while  not  so  impetuous 
as  that  of  Otis,  is  described  as  being  very  pleasing  and 
persuasive.  His  industry  was  wonderful.  He  success- 
fully defended  the  soldiers  implicated  in  the  Boston 
Massacre,  made  numerous  speeches  in  town  meetings 
and  public  assemblies,  and  wrote  many  stirring  articles 
for  the  periodicals  of  his  time.  In  1774  he  was  sent  on 
a  private  mission  to  England,  where  he  accomplished 
much  as  a  zealous  advocate  of  Colonial  rights.  He  died 
on  the  return  voyage,  in  his  thirty-first  year,  just  at  the 
opening  of  the  great  struggle.  It  was  hard  indeed  for 
the  Colonies  at  such  a  time  to  lose  young  men  of  the 
stamp  of  Otis,  and  Warren,  and  Quincy.  The  writings 
of  Quincy,  as  preserved  in  the  biography  written  by  his 
son,  are  full  of  force  and  fire  and  a  lofty  patriotism. 

Josiah  Quincy,  2d  (1772-1864). —  The  family  of  the 
Quincys,  like  that  of  the  Adamses,  with  which  it  is 
allied,  has  been  in  many  ways  a  remarkable  one.  Dur- 
ing three  generations  each  has  been  prominent  in  poll- 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD.  71 

tics  and  literature.  Josiah  Quincy,  son  of  the  above, 
was  for  many  years  a  leading  figure  in  Congress.  He 
strongly  opposed  the  second  war  with  England,  and  the 
extension  of  United  States  territory  by  the  admission 
of  Louisiana.  He  was  president  of  Harvard  College 
from  1829  to  1845.  His  principal  works  are  his  Memoir 
of  Josiah  Quincy,  1825 ;  The  History  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity, 1840 ;  Municipal  History  of  Boston,  1852,  and 
Life  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  1858. 

(See  Life  by  his  son  Edmund,  the  author  of  Wensley, 
a  Tale  of  New  England ;  also  Lowell's  My  Study  Win- 
dows, pp.  83-114.) 

4.  PATRICK  HENRY  (1736-1799). 

"The  most  wonderful  of  orators."  — Jefferson. 
"Full  of  the  fire  and  splendor  of  the  South." 

Again,  after  a  century  and  a  half,  the  attention  of 
the  student  of  American  literature  is  turned  toward 
Virginia.  The  almost  feudal  system  of  society,  which 
prevailed  in  this  State,  had  been  especially  favorable  to 
the  development  of  leaders.  While  New  England  was 
busying  herself  with  religious  cavils,  Virginia  was  train- 
ing men  who  were  to  become  skilled  in  statescraft,  in 
oratory,  in  worldly  wisdom.  This  not  only  gave  her 
the  generalship  of  the  War  of  Independence,  but  when 
peace  came  it  enabled  her  to  furnish  the  young  repub- 
lic with  some  of  the  most  wonderful  statesmen  of  any 
century. 

Life  of  Patrick  Henry  (by  William  Wirt,  1817,  —very 


72  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

luxuriant  in  its  style,  looked  upon  with  suspicion  by 
many  on  account  of  its  manifest  hero  worship  ;  by  Alex- 
ander Everett  in  Sparks'  Library  of  American  Biog- 
raphy;  by  Moses  Coit  Tyler  in  American  Statesmen 
Series.  See,  also,  McMaster's  History  of  the  United 
States,  Vol.  I.).  The  first  voice  to  call  attention  back 
to  Virginia  was  that  of  Patrick  Henry.  His  fervid 
speech  before  the  Virginia  Assembly  of  1765,  met  to 
discuss  the  passage  of  the  Stamp  Act,  brought  him  at 
once  into  prominence  as  a  wonderful  orator.  In  the 
torrent  of  his  eloquence  he  had  swept  all  before  him. 
"  Csesar  had  his  Brutus,"  he  cried ;  "  Charles  the  First 
his  Cromwell,  and  George  the  Third  — "  Loud  cries 
of  "  Treason !  treason !  "  interrupted  him.  Pausing  till 
they  had  subsided,  he  added  "may  profit  by  their  exam- 
ple. If  this  be  treason,  make  the  most  of  it." 

But  Henry's  greatest  effort  was  delivered  in  March, 
1775,  in  the  Virginia  Convention,  met  to  discuss  the 
question  whether  that  Colony  should  be  immediately 
put  into  a  state  of  defence.  Of  this  speech  we  have 
no  verbatim  copy.  The  draft  given  by  Ms  biographer, 
William  Wirt,  contains  only  the  substance  of  Henry's 
oration,  the  actual  wording  without  doubt  being  from 
Wirt's  pen.  But  we  know  that  the  effect  of  the  ora- 
tion was  electrical.  In  a  rapid  stream  of  eloquence  he 
swept  down  all  opposition.  Every  one  is  familiar  with 
the  wonderful  words  given  by  Wirt. 

"  It  is  now  too  late  to  retire  from  the  contest.  There  is  no  re- 
treat but  in  submission  or  slavery.  Our  chains  are  forged ;  their 
clanking  may  be  heard  on  the  plains  of  Boston.  The  war  is  inevi- 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD.  73 

table  and  let  it  come :  I  repeat  it,  sir,  let  it  come.  It  is  vain  to 
extenuate  the  matter.  Gentlemen  may  cry  'Peace!  Peace!'  but 
there  is  no  peace.  The  war  has  actually  begun .  The  next  gale 
that  sweeps  from  the  North  will  bring  to  our  ears  the  crash  of 
resounding  arms!  Our  brethren  are  already  in  the  field,  why 
stand  we  here  idle?" 

The  orator  had  spoken  with  the  voice  of  a  prophet. 
The  news  of  Lexington  and  Concord  was  already  in 
the  air. 

The  career  of  Patrick  Henry  centres  about  these  two 
great  efforts.  He  had  been  admitted  to  the  bar  after 
studying  law  six  weeks,  but  he  had  been  a  "briefless 
barrister  "  until  1765,  when  he  at  once  became  the  hero 
of  Virginia.  Every  honor  was  held  out  to  him,  but 
after  serving  twice  as  governor  of  the  State,  he  left 
public  life,  even  refusing  several  important  Federal 
offices  which  came  to  him  in  his  last  years. 

His  oratory  appeals  strongly  to  the  emotions.  In  his 
legal  practice  he  depended  more  on  the  spell  which  his 
eloquence  threw  over  the  jury,  than  on  a  mastery  of 
the  legal  intricacies  of  the  case.  He  was  fervid  rather 
than  weighty ;  superficial  and  hasty  rather  than  deep. 
His  oratory  abounds  in  figurative  language ;  it  is  some- 
times overwrought,  even  turgid,  full  of  exaggerations 
and  extravagant  rhapsodies,  yet  when  joined  with  the 
fire,  the  energy,  the  flashing  eye,  the  impassioned  voice 
of  the  man  who  originated  it,  it  was  irresistible. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Henry's  speech  before  the  Virginia 
Convention. 


74  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

II.    THE  PERIOD  OF  RESISTANCE. 
1775-1783. 

This  period  of  American  history,  so  full  of  romance 
and  heroism,  growing  more  and  more  dim  and  vague 
with  every  year,  has  furnished  historians,  poets,  novel- 
ists, and  painters  with  a  wonderful  background  for 
romantic  songs  and  tales  and  pictures.  Longfellow 
has  told  the  stirring  tale  of  "  Paul  Revere's  Ride  "  on 
the  night  before  Lexington ;  Emerson  in  his  "  Concord 
Hymn  "  has  sung  how 

"  the  embattled  farmers  stood 
And  fired  the  shot  heard  round  the  world." 

Holmes  has  given  us  "  Grandmother's  Story  of  the 
Bunker  Hill  Battle,"  and  Cooper,  who  with  a  master 
hand  has  pictured  in  Lionel  Lincoln  the  same  desperate 
struggle,  knew  well  the  romantic  possibilities  of  the 
field,  as  many  of  his  other  novels  show.  Bryant  sang 
of  "  Seventy-six,"  and  the  "  Song  of  Marion's  Men  "  •• 
Simms,  in  The  Partisan,  told  in  prose  the  thrilling  story 
of  the  Robin  Hood  of  the  South  Carolina  Swamps , 
John  P.  Kennedy,  in  Horse-shoe  Robinson,  told  the 
story  of  King's  Mountain ;  Mrs.  Child  wrote  The  Rebels, 
a  Tale  of  the  Revolution;  Thompson,  in  The  Grreen 
Mountain  Boys,  caught  the  romance  of  Ticonderoga : 
Hawthorne  threw  his  mystic  charm  over  the  period  in 
Septimius  Felton*  and  the  later  romantic  novelists,  like 
Dr.  Mitchell,  Ford,  Churchill,  and  scores  of  others,  have 
used  it  for  a  background. 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD.  75 

But  while  the  period  has  furnished  a  fruitful  field 
for  later  writers,  it  produced  no  immediate  literary 
results.  With  every  energy  bent  on  the  work  of  war, 
there  was  no  time  for  literary  production.  Only  one 
writer  need  be  mentioned. 

1.   THOMAS  PAINE  (1737-1809). 

"  The  impartial  historian  must  declare  that  liberty  owes  nearly  as 
much  to  the  courageous  advocacy  of  Paine,  as  to  the  military  services 
of  Washington."  —  Underwood. 

Life  (by  George  Chalmers,  1791;  by  William  Cob- 
bett,  1796.  The  standard  life  of  Paine  is  Moncure  D. 
Conway's,  1893.  The  most  valuable  com-  common  Senset 
plete  edition  of  his  writings  is  that  ed-  JJfcHih  1776 


ited  in  four  volumes  by  Conway,  1895).  The  Rights  of 
It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  the  most  The  Age  of 
powerful  champion  of  Colonial  freedom  Reason' 
during  the  American  Revolution  was  a  man  who, 
until  1774,  had  been  a  loyal  subject  of  England 
and  even  an  officer  under  the  British  government. 
Paine  was  born  in  England  of  Quaker  parentage,  1737. 
After  a  varied  career  as  staymaker,  privateer,  dissent- 
ing preacher,  and  grocer,  he  at  length  found  his  way 
into  the  British  revenue  service,  from  which,  however, 
he  was  soon  dismissed  under  a  false  charge  of  smug- 
gling. At  this  critical  time  in  his  career  he  came  in 
contact  with  Benjamin  Franklin,  who  was  then  in 
England,  who  strongly  advised  him  to  cast  in  his  fort- 
unes with  the  American  Colonies.  Never  did  Franklin 
render  his  country  a  greater  service.  Immediately 


76  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

upon  Paine's  arrival  in  America  he  became  editor  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Magazine.  Two  years  later  he  scat- 
tered broadcast  a  powerful  political  pamphlet  advocat- 
ing, in  no  uncertain  voice,  the  complete  independence 
of  the  Colonies.  The  effect  was  electrical.  The  pam- 
phlet struck  the  keynote  of  popular  feeling,  expressing 
clearly  and  courageously  what  every  one  had  scarcely 
allowed  himself  to  think.  Honors  were  showered  upon 
the  bold  author.  The  legislature  gave  him  X500.  In 
December  of  the  same  year,  he  published  a  little  period- 
ical called  The  Crisis,  devoted  to  the  furtherance  of  the 
cause  of  liberty.  Its  opening  words,  "  These  are  the 
times  that  try  men's  souls,"  have  become  famous. 
Though  it  appeared  only  at  irregular  intervals,  and 
soon  suspended  entirely,  it  accomplished  much  good. 
The  first  number,  by  order  of  Washington,  was  read 
entire  before  every  American  regiment. 

After  the  Revolution  Paine's  career  was  a  varied 
one.  In  1791,  while  in  England,  he  published,  in  reply 
to  Burke 's  Reflexions  on  the  Revolution  in  France,  Part 
I.  of  the  Rights  of  Man,  a  book  which  so  delighted  the 
French  that  they  granted  him  soon  afterwards  citizen- 
ship and  gave  him  a  seat  in  the  National  Convention. 
Afterwards,  after  narrowly  escaping  the  guillotine,  he 
was  thrown  into  prison  by  Robespierre.  It  was  while  in 
confinement  here  that  he  wrote  The  Age  of  Reason,  a 
bitter  attack  on  the  Bible  from  the  deistic  standpoint. 
This  book,  which  was  published  against  the  earnestly 
expressed  wishes  of  Franklin,  made  its  author  a  host  of 
enemies.  With  such  horror  was  its  author  looked  upon 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD.  77 

by  a  majority  of  the  American  people,  that  his  early  ser- 
vices to  the  cause  of  liberty  were  almost  forgotten.     The 
Age  of  Reason  is  unfair  in  its  treatment  of  the  Bible  and 
has  been  many  times  answered  and  confuted. 
Paine  died  in  New  York  in  1809. 

m.    THE  PERIOD  OF  RECONSTRUCTION. 

1783-1809. 

The  Critical  Period.  —  (See  The  Critical  Period  of 
American  History,  John  Fiske.)  On  the  19th  of 
October,  nearly  eight  years  after  the  bat-  1788.  Trial  of 

-   T        .  ,   Tr     ,       Warren  Hast- 

tle  of  Lexington,  the  surrender  at  York-  ings. 


town   put  an   end   to    armed    hostilities. 
In  September  two  years  later  the  Treaty 

of  Paris  left  the  thirteen  Colonies  inde-  President- 

1793.    Louis 

pendent  of  Great  Britain.    The  Americans  xvi.  beheaded. 

v  j  ^      •     •        £  v  n        j  ^  Rei£n  of  Terror 

had  won,  the  ringing  of  bells  and  the  roar-  in  France. 

ing  of  cannon  voiced  their  joy,  but  Ameri-  ieon;s  first  °" 

can   independence   was   not  yet   assured.  J^Jpai^'jt  j 

Difficulties    almost    insuperable     yet    re-  °f  the  United 

J  States  located 

mained.     John  Fiske   has   called  the  six  at  Washington. 

years  between  the  Peace  of  Paris  and  the  rapny  invented. 


adoption  of  the  Constitution,  "  the  critical 

period  of  American  history."     The  prob-  J 

lems   of  war    are   simple   compared  with  gar.   Death  of 

those  that  follow  it.     Mere  conquest  and  ism.'  Fulton's 

destruction   may  be  effected  by  savages,  theaHudson!n 

but  reconstruction  is  a  work  for  demigods. 

Union.  —  No  sooner  had  peace  been  de-  ^  So.uth 

A  American 

clared,  than   the  union  of  the   Colonies,  Colonies. 


78  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

which  had  been  their  strength  during  the  war,  was  for- 
gotten. It  had  been  at  best  only  a  temporary  joining 
of  strength  to  ward  off  a  common  danger.  Even  after 
independence  had  been  won,  Union,  in  the  sense  in 
which  we  now  conceive  of  it,  was  undreamed  of  even 
by  the  most  advanced  thinkers.  When,  in  November, 
1783,  the  Continental  Army  was  disbanded,  each  soldier 
retired  to  his  home  and  spoke  of  himsolf,  not  as  a 
citizen  of  the  Independent  Colonies  of  America,  but  as 
a  citizen  of  Massachusetts  or  of  Virginia,  as  the  case 
might  be. 

The  Continental  Congress  had  been  a  war  body 
simply.  It  had  conducted  the  war  and  had  contracted 
enormous  debts,  but  it  was  powerless  to  tax  the  people. 
The  Articles  of  Confederation  were  so  loose  in  their 
binding  power  that  they  were  practically  useless. 
Each  State  had  its  own  commercial  regulations.  Dis- 
cord arose  which  threatened  to  result  in  thirteen  inde- 
pendent nations  along  the  Atlantic  coast. 

The  Constitution.  —  (See  P.  L.  Ford's  Bibliography 
and  Reference  List  of  the  Constitution.  The  best  mono- 
graphs that  have  yet  appeared  on  the  Framing  and 
Framers  of  the  Constitution  are  by  MacMaster,  Century 
Magazine,  Vol.  12,  p.  746,  and  by  John  Fiske,  Atlantic 
Monthly,  February,  1887.  See  McMaster's  History  of  the 
United  States  and  Fiske's  Critical  Period.)  By  1787, 
Colonial  affairs  had  drifted  into  such  a  chaos  of  diffi- 
culties, that  the  demand  for  a  definite  policy  and  for 
immediate  action  became  imperative.  Accordingly,  in 
May,  delegates  to  the  number  of  fifty-five,  from  all  the 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD.  79 

Colonies,  met  at  Philadelphia  to  discuss  the  situation 
and  to  form,  if  possible,  the  plan  for  "  a  more  perfect 
union." 

The  Convention  was  a  remarkable  one.  Washington 
was  its  president,  and  Franklin,  Hamilton,  and  Madison 
were  prominent  members.  "  It  was  an  assembly  of  demi- 
gods," declared  Jefferson.  For  nearly  four  months,  with 
closed  doors,  it  wrestled  with  problems  worthy  of  demi- 
gods, until  on  Sept.  17, 1787,  thirty-nine  of  the  members 
signed  what  was  to  be  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  of  America,  "the  1782-  w«*ster- 

1783.    Irving. 

most  wonderful   work,"    says   Gladstone,  1739.  Cooper. 
"  ever  struck  off  at  a  given  time  by  the  1794>  Bfyant. 

J  1796.    Prescott. 

brain  and  purpose  of  man.  Almost  isoo.  Bancroft, 
every  article  of  this  document  had  been  1803*  Emerson- 

J  1804.    Haw- 

the  result  of  compromise  either  between  thome. 
radicals  and  conservatives,  between  North  feiiow.    ng~ 
and  South,   or    large   States    and    small   1807-  Whittier. 

1809.    Foe. 

ones.      Hardly  one  of  the  signers  could  1309.  Holmes, 
personally  endorse  every  part  of  the  instru- 
ment.    It  divided  the  people  immediately  into  two  fac- 
tions, from  which  grew  the  political  parties  that  have 
played  so  conspicuous  a  part  in  American  politics.    The 
Federalists   endorsed  the  new  Constitution,  while  the 
Anti-Federalists  opposed  it  vigorously,  even  endeavoring 
to  prevent  its  acceptance  by  the  necessary  number  of 
States. 

On  June  21,  1788,  the  ninth  State  ratified  the  Consti- 
tution, and  the  United  States  of  America  became  an 
accomplished  fact. 


80  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Franklin's  Address  on  the  last  day  of 
the  Constitutional  Convention.  See  also  Old  South  Leaflets  for 
text  of  the  Constitution,  with  short  bibliography. 

The  New  Nation.  —  The  Revolutionary  Age  of  our 
literature  does  not  end  with  the  birth  of  the  new  nation. 
The  echoes  of  the  great  struggle  lingered  well  into  the 
first  decade  of  the  Nineteenth  Century.  It  is  the  work 
of  time  to  revolutionize  the  ideas  of  a  people.  The 
form  of  government  that  was  offered  to  the  Colonies  for 
their  approval  was  a  thing  "new  under  the  sun."  The 
Constitution  had  been  forced  upon  many  of  the  Ameri- 
cans against  their  better  judgment,  and  deep  wounds 
rankled  in  many  hearts.  It  was  a  time  of  suspicion, 
"  of  test  cases,"  of  doubt  and  hesitancy.  The  new 
instrument,  upon  which  was  to  hang  the  liberties  and 
happiness  of  the  people,  had  not  been  tested,  and  confi- 
dence in  the  central  government  grew  slowly.  It  was 
not  until  after  the  second  war  with  England  that  sus- 
picion and  doubt  began  to  die  away,  and  that  patriotism 
and  love  for  the  united  fatherland  took  root  in  all 
hearts. 

Literary  Conditions.  —  That  an  independent  literature 
can  exist  only  among  nations  that  are  free  is  an  axiom 
as  old  as  the  history  of  letters.  Art  cannot  flourish 
without  patriotism  and  without  a  free  fatherland. 
Athens  had  been  free  for  a  century  before  she  became 
a  literary  centre ;  England  was  three  centuries  in  pro- 
ducing a  Chaucer.  There  could  be  no  independent 
literature  in  America  until  her  sons  had  learned  to 
trust  her  implicitly  and  love  her  devotedly.  Although 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD.  81 

much  was  written  in  America  in  Colonial  and  Revolu- 
tionary times,  it  was  not  in  reality  American  literature, 
since  it  was  but  an  echo  of  the  literature  of  England. 

The  writers  of  the  period  of  reconstruction  fall  into 
two  groups :  "  The  Nation  Builders "  and  the  little 
band  of  pioneers  that  gave  the  first  feeble  lispings  of 
American  song  and  romance. 

1.   GEORGE  WASHINGTON  (1732-1799). 

"  Virginia  gave  us  this  imperial  man, 
Cast  in  the  massive  mould 
Of  those  high-statured  ages  old, 
Which  into  grander  forms  our  mortal  metal  ran  ; 

Mother  of  States  and  undiminished  men, 
Thou  gavest  us  a  country  giving  him." 

LOWELL,  "  Under  the  Old  Elm." 

Life  (by  Washington  Irving;  by  Chief  Justice 
Marshall;  and  by  many  others.  The  best  life  of 
Washington  for  young  people  is  H.  E.  Scudder's). 
Although  Washington  was  only  incidentally  a  man  of 
letters,  his  "literary  remains,"  as  collected  by  Jared 
Sparks,  fill  twelve  large  volumes.  While  these  are 
largely  composed  of  collections  of  state  papers,  de- 
spatches, messages,  and  business  letters,  they  contain, 
nevertheless,  many  things  possessing  rare  literary  value. 
As  a  letter  writer  Washington  had  few  superiors ;  his 
journals,  notably  the  account  of  his  famous  journey  to 
the  Ohio,  first  published  in  1754, 'are  written  in  clear, 
concise  English ;  and  his  farewell  addresses  are  full  of 


82  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

a  wisdom  and  a  stateliness  worthy  in  every  way  of  the 
great  man  who  produced  them. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Washington's  "Rules  of  Conduct," 
"Journal,"  "Letters,"  and  "Farewell  Addresses."  Riverside 
Literature  Series,  No.  24. 

2.   JOHN  ADAMS  (1735-1826). 

"His  letters  .  .  .  are  among  the  best  in  our  literature."  — 
Underwood. 

Life  (by  Charles  Francis  Adams,  with  works  in  ten 
volumes,  1850 ;  by  J.  Q.  and  C.  F.  Adams,  1871).  The 
second  President  of  the  United  States  is  known  in  liter- 
ature chiefly  from  the  charming  correspondence  that 
passed  between  him  and  his  wife  during  the  most  stir- 
ring period  of  our  history.  These  letters,  which  have 
been  given  to  the  world  by  Charles  Francis  Adams,  are 
singularly  frank  and  tender.  Besides  revealing  two 
rare  personalities,  and  an  almost  ideal  domestic  life, 
they  possess  a  literary  merit  of  very  high  rank. 

Adams,  aside  from  the  inevitable  public  documents 
and  messages  incident  to  his  position,  produced  several 
powerful  pamphlets  of  contemporary  interest,  and  kept 
a  journal  which  is  now  of  great  value  to  the  student  of 
our  early  national  life. 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  Letters  of  John  and  Abigail  Adams, 
school  edition,  Taintor  Bros. ;  also  Old  South  Leaflets. 

John  Quincy  Adams  (1767-1848),  the  sixth  President 
of  the  United  States,'  was  far  more  learned  and  accom- 
plished than  his  father,  though  greatly  inferior  to  him 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD.  83 

in  native  ability.  Though  a  constant  writer,  publish- 
ing during  his  life  works  on  rhetoric,  European  travel, 
Shakespearean  criticism  and  biography,  besides  a  book 
of  poems  and  many  political  articles,  he  deserves  men- 
tion rather  as  a  statesman  than  an  author.  Like  his 
father,  he  kept  a  full  diary,  and  like  him  maintained 
a  voluminous  and  charming  correspondence.  His  life 
has  been  written  by  W.  H.  Seward,  by  Josiah  Quincy, 
and  by  John  T.  Morse,  Jr. 

3.  THOMAS  JEFFERSON  (1743-1826). 
"The  most  acute  philosophic  intellect  of  the  time."  —  Lawrence. 

Life  (by  his  grandson  Thomas  Jefferson  Randolph; 
by  George  Tucker;  by  Henry  S.  Randall;  by  James 
Parton  ;  by  John  T.  Morse,  Jr.,  and  by  Notes  on  Fir- 
others.     See   Cooke's   Stories  of  the   Old 
Dominion). 


In  scholarship  and  breadth  of  view  Jef-  Rights  of  Brit- 

ish  America. 

ferson  surpassed  all  of  his  contemporaries  ;  Letters. 
in  the  theory  and  practice  of  statescraft  he  Autobiography. 
has,  perhaps,  never  had  a  superior  in  America.  In  an 
oratorical  age  he  never  made  a  set  speech  in  his  life  ;  he 
had  only  moderate  administrative  ability,  and  he  cared 
nothing  for  the  pomp  and  display  that  appeal  so  strongly 
to  most  men,  but  he  could  pen  words  that  were  mag- 
netic. Throughout  his  career  as  a  statesman,  he  de- 
pended largely  on  his  vigorous  prose  style  for  his 
influence  on  men  and  events.  As  a  result,  his  state 
papers,  his  messages  and  official  letters,  possess  a  liter* 


84  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

ary  merit  rarely  to  be  found  in  such  documents.  Jeffer- 
son's monument  is  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
which  is,  without  doubt,  the  most  literary,  as  it  is  the 
best  known,  state  paper  in  America. 

In  1784  Jefferson  published,  at  the  request  of  the 
French  government,  Notes  on  Virginia,  a  little  book  that 
at  once  gained  a  deserved  popularity.  Besides  contain- 
ing much  practical  wisdom,  it  contained  many  fine  stud- 
ies of  natural  scenery.  At  times  the  author  approaches 
sublimity  in  his  descriptions,  as  in  the  following : 

"  The  passage  of  the  Potomac  through  the  Blue  Ridge  is,  per- 
haps, one  of  the  most  stupendous  scenes  in  Nature.  You  stand  on 
a  very  high  point  of  land.  On  your  right  comes  up  the  Shenan- 
doah,  having  ranged  along  the  foot  of  the  mountain  an  hundred 
miles  to  seek  a  vent.  On  your  left  approaches  the  Potomac,  in 
quest  of  a  passage  also.  In  the  moment  of  their  junction  they 
rush  together  against  the  mountain,  rend  it  asunder,  and  pass  off 
to  the  sea.  The  first  glance  of  this  scene  hurries  our  senses  into 
the  opinion  that  this  earth  has  been  created  in  time,  that  the 
mountains  were  formed  first,  that  the  rivers  began  to  flow  after- 
ward, that  in  this  place,  particularly,  they  have  been  dammed  up 
by  the  Blue  Ridge  of  mountains,  and  have  formed  an  ocean  which 
filled  the  whole  valley  —  that  continuing  to  rise,  they  have  at 
length  broken  over  this  spot,  and  have  torn  the  mountain  down 
from  its  summit  to  its  base." 

The  impress  of  Jefferson's  powerful  mind  upon  his 
times  is  everywhere  clearly  to  be  seen.  He  was  in 
every  sense  a  leader.  Opposing  the  new  Constitution, 
since  to  his  mind  it  gave  too  much  power  to  the  cen- 
tral government,  he  immediately  became  the  recognized 
leader  of  the  Anti-Federalist  party.  Later,  when  the 
Constitution  had  been  adopted  by  the  people,  he  headed 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD.  85 

the  strict  constructionist  faction  from  which  has  de- 
scended the  Democratic  party  of  to-day. 

A  suggestive  coincidence,  one  that  has  been  immor- 
talized by  the  eloquence  of  Webster  and  other  contem- 
porary orators,  is  the  fact  that  John  Adams  and  Thomas 
Jefferson  died  on  the  same  day,  July  4,  1826.  "The 
two  founders  of  freedom  seemed  to  rise  together  to  the 
stars." 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  Webster's  Discourse  on  the  Lives  and 
Services  of  John  Adams  and  Thomas  Jefferson,  1826;  see  also  Old 
South  Leaflets  for  text  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Jeffer- 
son's works  have  been  published  in  nine  volumes. 

4.   JAMES  MADISON  (1751-1836). 
"The  Father  of  the  Constitution.1' 

Life  (by  William  C.  Rives,  1866 ;  by  John  Quincy 
Adams,  1854;  by  Sidney  H.  Gay,  1889).  James  Madi- 
son, the  fourth  President,  completes  the  remarkable  trio 
of  Virginians,  who  added  lustre  to  our 

Twenty-nine 

early  history.     All  of  the  best  of  Madi-  federalist 

Papers. 

son's  literary  work  is  connected  with  the   Rep0rts  of  the 
Constitution.     He  made  the  first  draught  f^alco^ 
of  this  instrument  to  be  presented  to  the  ventlon- 
Convention ;  he  was  prominent  in  all  the  pers,  3  vois., 
debates  that  followed;  he  wrote  twenty- 
nine  of  the  eighty-five  Federalist  Papers,  defending  and 
explaining  it;   and  his  journal  of  the  debates  of  the 
Convention  is  the  most  complete  and  authentic  record 
of  that  important  assembly. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "The  Last  Day  of  the  Convention," 
from  Madison's  Journal.  Old  South  Leaflets. 


86  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 


5.   ALEXANDER  HAMILTON  (1757-1804). 

"  Hamilton  was  the  greatest  man  the  country  has  ever  seen,  always 
excepting  Washington."  —  Chief  Justice  Marshall. 

"Orator,  writer,  soldier,  jurist,  financier."  —  From  Hamilton's 
monument. 

Life  (by  his  son  John  C.  Hamilton,  1834-1840,  with 
works  in  several  volumes ;  by  George  Shed ;  by  John  T. 
The  Federalist  Morse,  Jr.,  and  by  others.  Morse's  work 
Papers.  js  probably  regarded  as  the  standard  Life 

of  Hamilton,  though  that  by  H.  C.  Lodge,  in  the  Amer- 
ican Statesman  Series,' is  by  all  means  the  best  for  school 
use.  See  also  Lodge's  Studies  in  History,  p.  132). 

The  brief  line,  given  above,  from  the  monument  of 
Alexander  Hamilton,  reduces  to  its  lowest  terms  the 
career  of  a  remarkably  versatile  man.  First  a  student 
in  Columbia  College ;  then  called  from  his  studies  to  a 
brilliant  career  as  a  soldier  in  the  patriot  army;  aide- 
de-camp  to  Washington ;  then  jurist  winning  the  praises 
of  such  lawyers  as  Jay  and  Marshall ;  member  from  New 
York  of  the  Continental  Congress  and  the  Federal  Con- 
vention ;  author  of  the  greater  number  of  the  Feder- 
alist Papers;  then  orator  for  the  new  Constitution, 
turning  almost  single-handed  the  tide  of  public  senti- 
ment in  the  crucial  State  of  New  York ;  and  finally  the 
first  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  creating  a  financial  policy 
that  saved  the  nation  from  bankruptcy,  —  such,  in  brief, 
are  the  main  facts  in  an  unusually  eventful  life. 

The  public  career  of  Hamilton  naturally  divides  itself 
in  two  periods :  the  first  characterized  by  his  efforts  to 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD.  87 

biing  about  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution;  the  sec- 
ond marked  by  his  magnificent  statesmanship  in  the 
service  of  the  new  government.  It  is  difficult  to  de- 
termine in  which  capacity  he  did  the  nation  the  great- 
est service.  His  financial  policy  is  summed  up  in  the 
well-known  words  of  Webster :  "  He  smote  the  rock  of 
national  resources,  and  abundant  streams  of  revenue 
gushed  forth.  He  touched  the  dead  corpse  of  public 
credit,  and  it  sprang  upon  its  feet."  But  it  is  in  connec- 
tion with  his  efforts  to  introduce  to  the  people  the  new 
Constitution  that  Hamilton's  fame  as  a  writer  depends. 

The  Federalist  Papers. — The  first  number  of  the 
Federalist  Papers  appeared  in  the  New  York  Indepen- 
dent G-azette  of  Oct.  27,  1787,  and  they  continued  to 
appear  at  semi-weekly  intervals  for  nearly  a  year.  The 
papers  were  published  under  the  signature  of  "Pub- 
lius,"  and  as  a  result  their  authorship  has  been  ques- 
tioned. It  is  known,  however,  that  Hamilton  originated 
the  idea  of  the  series,  and  that  he  contributed  the  most 
powerful  numbers.  The  most  unprejudiced  estimate 
ascribes  fifty-one  papers  to  Hamilton,  twenty-nine  to 
Madison,  and  five  to  Jay.  Although  addressed  to  the 
people  of  New  York,  and  written  with  the  primary  idea 
of  explaining  to  them  the  new  Constitution,  these  essays 
had  a  far  wider  audience.  They  were  copied  in  all  the 
Colonial  papers,  exerting  an  influence  for  good  that 
cannot  be  estimated. 

The  great  value  of  the  Federalist  Papers  as  treatises 
on  the  Constitution  and  our  federal  government  has 
been  commented  upon.  John  Fiske  declares  them 


88  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

i4  undoubtedly  the  most  profound  and  suggestive 
treatise  on  government  that  has  ever  been  written." 
H.  C.  Lodge  writes: 

"  The  great  legal  minds  have  set  the  seal  of  the'^  approbation 
upon  them;  and  in  modern  times,  in  the  formation  of  a  great 
empire,  statesmen  have  turned  to  1  >m  and  to  their  principal 
author  as  the  pre-eminent  authority  on  the  subject  of  federation. 
The  effect  of  these  remarkable  essays  in  converting  and  forming 
public  opinion  can  hardly  be  overestimated." 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Old  South  Leaflets,  Nbs.  1  and  2.  See 
also  The  Federalist,  H.  C.  Lodge,  editor,  New  York,  1888. 

Other  Writers.  —  The  list  of  remarkable  men  who  laid 
the  foundations  of  our  government  and  incidentally 
produced  literature,  is  a  long  one,  yet  only  a  few  names 
need  be  mentioned  her...  JOHN  JAY  (1745-1829), 
first  Chief  Justice  of  the  Uni;  ;d  States,  wrote  clearly 
and  well  on  political  and  leg;  1  topics  ;  GOCJVERNEUR 
MORHIS  (1752-1816)  was  a  powerful  orator;  FISHER 
AMES  (1758-1808),  a  passionate  political  speaker  and 
newspaper  writer,  was  the  ever-ready  champion  of  the 
New  England  Federalists ;  and  JAMES  MONROE  (1758- 
1831),  the  fifth  President  of  the  United  States,  wrote 
several  scholarly  political  works,  as  The  People  the 
Sovereigns,  etc. 

The  First  Truly  American  Literature.  — None  of  this 
remarkable  group  of  men  aspired  to  literary  distinction ; 
none  of  them  can  strictly  be  called  a  literary  man ; 
nevertheless  it  was  from  their  pens  that  the  first  true 
American  literature  came.  The  creators  of  the  Con- 
stitution followed  no  models.  The  mark  of  their 


THE  REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD.  89 

individuality  is  upon  everything  that  they  did  and 
wrote.  It  was  in  her  political  literature  that  America 
first  broke  away  from  the  intellectual  chain  that  bound 
her  to  England. 


VI. 

THE  SONG  AND  ROMANCE  OF  THE  REVOLUTION. 
I.  THE  POETRY  OF  THE  REVOLUTION. 

The  War  of  Independence,  that  struggle  in  the  forests 
of  a  new  world,  so  full  of  heroism,  of  romance  and  poe- 
try, remained  unsung  for  half  a  century  after  its  close. 
"  No  poetry,"  says  Stedman,  "  was  begotten  of  the  rage 
of  that  heroic  strife ;  its  humor,  hatred,  hope,  suffering, 
prophecy,  were  feebly  uttered,  so  far  as  verse  was  con- 
cerned, in  the  mode  and  language  inherited  years  before 
from  the  coarsest  English  satirists." 

But  if  there  was  a  lack  of  poetry,  there  was  certainly 
no  lack  of  versifiers.  Rhymed  politics  at  great  length 
burdened  the  weekly  newspapers.  Never  before  was 
the  Muse  so  harnessed  to  the  political  chariot,  never 
since  have  poems  on  so  ambitious  a  scale  been  attempted. 
Three  epics,  each  of  them  almost  as  long  as  the  Iliad, 
are  among  the  poetical  products  of  the  period.  Says 
Professor  Beers,  "An  effort  was  made  to  establish  by 
tour  deforce  a  national  literature  of  a  bigness  commensu- 
rate with  the  scale  of  American  nature,  and  the  destinies 
of  the  new  republic." 

But  a  literature  cannot  be  made  at  will  by  sheer 
force.  The  ponderous  epics,  that  so  impressed  their 
first  readers,  are  now  readable,  as  Leslie  Stephen  said  of 

90 


THE  SONG  AND  ROMANCE  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.     91 

Johnson's  Irene,  "  only  by  men  in  whom  a  sense  of  duty 
has  been  abnormally  developed."  In  them  one  searches 
almost  in  vain  for  a  touch  of  nature,  for  a  bit  of  genuine 
poetry.  Almost  every  line  reveals  its  dependence  on 
English  models.  The  authors  openly,  even  proudly, 
confessed  their  imitation.  Timothy  Dwight  published 
"America,  a  Poem  in  the  Style  of  Pope's  Windsor 
Forest,"  and  the  same  author  declared  in  his  poem 
"Greenfield  Hill"  that  he  designed  "to  imitate  the 
manner  of  several  British  poets."  When  M'Fingal 
appeared,  there  echoed  from  all  sides,  as  the  highest 
praise  that  could  be  given,  the  verdict  that  it  could 
hardly  be  told  from  Butler's  Hudibras. 

The  Revolutionary  rhymers  were  not  fortunate  in 
their  models.  It  was  a  time  when  English  poetry  was 
at  its  lowest  ebb.  The  artificial  school  of  Pope  had  for 
a  century  and  a  half  bound  British  verse 

1731-1800. 

with  its  "  ten-linked  chain."     All  that  was  Cowper. 

spontaneous  and  natural  had  been  frowned  Wordsworth, 

upon.     The  last  half  of  the  Eighteenth  ^tt1832' 

Century  found  England  without  a  poet  of  1772-1334. 

the  first  rank  and  with  little  promise  for  the  1774-1843.' 

future.     The  American  imitators  had   to  ^^^2 

take  as  guides  inferior  versifiers  like  Dar-  M°°re- 

,    1788-1824. 

win  or  Hayley,  or  go  back  to  Pope  and  Byron. 
Goldsmith.     The  new  natural  school,  led  Sly22' 
by  Thomson,  and  Gray,  and  Cowper,  had  H95-1821. 
as  yet  made  little  headway.     Later,  when 
the   powerful   voices   of    Wordsworth    and    Coleridge 
and  Southey  began  to  dominate  the  chorus  of  English 


92  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

verse,  the  Americans  would  not  listen,  since  these  poets 
were  ardent  democrats.  The  splendor  of  the  day  of 
Scott  and  Byron  and  Keats  was  yet  to  come. 

Songs  and  Ballads.  —  (See  Moore's  8ongs  and  Ballads 
of  the  American  Revolution,  1855 ;  and  G.  C.  Eggleston's 
American  War  Ballads  and  Lyrics,  1889.)  Every  war 
has  its  songs  and  ballads,  little  waifs  that  spring  up 
almost  spontaneously  to  die  often  as  quickly.  The 
early  Colonial  wars  were  the  occasion  of  a  few  curious 
ballads ;  "  The  Song  of  Braddock's  Men,"  a  lively  little 
lyric,  commencing: 

u  To  arms,  to  arms  1  my  jolly  grenadiers," 

survives  from  the  French  and  Indian  War,  and  the 
Revolutionary  struggle  produced  its  full  quota  of 
verse.  While  the  most  of  the  songs  that  echoed  about 
the  camp-fires  of  Boston,  and  Morristown,  and  Valley 
Forge  have  passed  into  oblivion,  they  are  well  repre- 
sented, perhaps,  by  such  survivors  as  Jonathan  Mitchell 
Sewall's  "War  and  Washington,"  an  ambitious  lyric 
much  sung  during  the  war,  and  the  anonymous  "  Yankee 
Doodle,"  that  piece  of  rollicking  doggerel  which  has 
become  undeservingly  famous. 

Of  ballads  of  the  war  large  numbers  have  come  down 
to  us  in  the  columns  of  contemporary  newspapers. 
"The  Taxation  of  America,"  written  in  1778  by  Peter 
St.  John,  tells  at  length  the  early  history  of  the  war. 
"The  Ballad  of  Nathan  Hale,"; the  "Tale  of  John  Bur- 
goyne,"  and  "  Bold  Hawthorne  "  —  the  surgeon's  record 
of  the  cruise  of  the  privateer,  Fair  American  —  were  all 


THE  SONG  AND  ROMANCE  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.     93 

famous  in  their  day.  From  Philadelphia  came  the 
humorous  ballad,  "  The  Battle  of  the  Kegs,"  written 
by  the  Francis  Hopkinson  whose  name  is  signed  to 
the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Joseph  Hopkinson, 
a  son  of  this  early  humorist,  afterwards  wrote  the 
patriotic  song,  "  Hail  Columbia,"  a  production  of  small 
literary  merit,  saved  from  oblivion  only  by  the  stirring 
music  to  which  it  is  joined.  On  the  Tory  side,  the 
unfortunate  Major  Andre  created,  with  his  "Cow 
Chase,"  a  comical  parody  of  the  old  ballad  "  Chevy- 
Chase,"  much  fun  at  the  expense  of  "  Mad  "  Anthony 
Wayne.  The  last  stanza  of  this  poem  seems  to  have 
been  almost  prophetic : 

"  And  now  I've  closed  my  epic  strain, 

I  tremble  as  I  show  it, 
Lest  this  same  warrior-drover,  Wayne, 
Should  ever  catch  the  poet." 

In  Boston,  Robert  Treat  Paine,  Jr.,  gained  great 
contemporary  fame  and  some  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars  in  substantial  cash,  with  a  little  poem  entitled 
"Adams  and  Liberty,"  a  production  which  seems  dull 
enough,  however,  at  the  present  day. 


1.   JOHN  TRUMBULL  (1750-1831). 
"  The  American  Butler." 

Life  (see  Moses  Coit  Tyler's  Three  Men  of  Letters, 
1895 ;  also  S.  C.  Goodrich's  Recollections  of  a  Lifetime, 

1857). 


94  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

The  representative  literary  product  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary Age,  the  one  that,  more  than  all  others,  breathes 
The  Progress  f°rtn  tn^  spirit  of  that  heroic  time,  is 
s{tfre.tes'a  Trumbull's  long,  self-styled  epic,  M'  Fin- 
Elegy  on  the  gal,  a  poem  which  deserves  the  high  praise 

Times.  1774. 

M'Fingai.          of  being  numbered  among  the  forces  that 

1775-1782.  ,.  ,      ,  .     ,  ,  7i,r>Tv 

accomplished  our  independence.     M  Fin- 


Dwight).  gai  was  written,  so  its  author  tells  us, 

"  to  satirize  the  follies  and  extravagancies  of  my  coun- 
trymen, as  well  as  of  their  enemies."  But  the  follies 
of  his  countrymen  are  lightly  touched  upon,  while 
M'Fingai,  who  represents  the  Tories,  is  destined  to 
defeat  and  disgrace  in  every  encounter  with  his  sturdy 
opponents.  Utterly  confounded  by  the  logic  of  the 
Whig  champion,  with  whom  he  attempts  discussion,  he 
is  tarred  and  feathered  and  forced  to  flee  for  his  life 
into  the  camp  of  General  Gage  at  Boston.  The  poem 
is  permeated  through  and  through  with  a  sly  humor 
that  was  irresistible  to  its  first  readers.  Like  its  great 
model,  Hudibras,  it  is  full  of  epigram  and  couplets  that 
provoke  quotation. 

Trumbull  was  a  native  of  Connecticut  and  a  member 
of  the  class  of  1767,  at  Yale  College.  After  serving 
as  tutor  for  several  years,  he  studied  law  with  John 
Adams  in  Boston,  afterwards  practising  his  profession 
in  Hartford,  where  for  eighteen  years  he  was  a  judge 
of  the  Superior  Court.  His  complete  poetical  works 
were  first  published  in  Hartford  by  S.  C.  Goodrich,  in 
1820. 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  Tyler's  Three  Men  of  Letters. 


THE  SONG  AND  ROMANCE  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.    95 

2.    TIMOTHY  DWIGHT  (1752-1817). 

Life  (by  W.  B.  Sprague,  also  by  his  son,  Sereno  O. 
Dwight.  See  Goodrich's  Recollections  and  Addison's 
Clergy  in  American  Life  and  Letters,  Ch.  V.). 

Although  the  author  of  an  epic  in  eleven  canaan^l^ 
books  and  of  several  other  ambitious  pro-  Greenfield  mil. 

-,  •     i         •  rrr        ,1       TA     •    i  j      Theology  Ex- 

ductions  in  heroic  verse,  Timothy  Dwight,  plained  and 


as  might  be  expected  of  a  grandson  of  Tmvn  New 
Jonathan  Edwards,  is  better  known  as  a  ^fj^^ 
theologian,  scholar,  and  educator  than  as  vols- 
a  poet.  After  his  graduation  at  Yale,  in  1769,  he 
became  successively  a  tutor  in  the  college,  a  chaplain 
in  the  Continental  Army,  pastor  at  Northampton  and 
Greenfield  Hill,  and,  during  the  last  twenty-two  years 
of  his  life,  the  president  of  Yale  College.  His  principal 
prose  work,  Theology  Explained  and  Defended,  was  de- 
livered in  the  form  of  sermons,  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
three  in  number,  before  the  Yale  students. 

While  in  the  Continental  Army  Dwight  composed 
several  patriotic  songs,  the  one  best  known  beginning 

"  Columbia,  Columbia,  to  glory  arise, 
The  queen  of  the  world  and  the  child  of  the  skies." 

His  long  and  dreary  epic,  The  Conquest  of  Canaan, 
written  in  the  rhymed  couplets  of  Pope,  is  excessively 
unnatural  and  monotonous  throughout.  The  same  may 
be  said  of  nearly  all  of  his  rhyming  attempts,  though 
Grreenfield  Hill  contains  here  and  there  a  true  poetic 
touch.  Several  of  his  hymns  still  retain  their  place  in 


06  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

the  hymn  books,  the  best  known  being  his  metrical 
version  of  the  83d  Psalm  : 

"  I  love  thy  kingdom,  Lord, 
The  house  of  Thine  abode." 

His  Travels  in  New  England  and  New  York,  notes  of 
vacation  rambles,  are  full  of  keen  observation  and  have 
a  permanent  value. 

In  scholarship  and  force  of  character,  Dwight  has  had 
few  superiors  since  Edwards. 

3.   JOEL  BARLOW  (1755-1812). 

Life  (by  Charles  B.  Todd,  1886;  also,  Tyler's  Three 
Men  of  Letters,  1895;  and  Everest's  Poets  of  Connec- 
ticut). 

Joel  Barlow  completes  the  somewhat  remarkable  trio 
of  "  epic  poets  "  that  made  Connecticut  prominent  dur- 
The  Coiumbiad.  ing  the  Revolutionary  period.  His  early 

1  QH& 

history  does  not  much  differ  from  that  of 


Pudding.  Trumbull   and    Dwight.      Like    them   he 

entered  Yale  College,  graduating  in  1778  ;  like  Dwight 
he  joined  the  Continental  Army  as  chaplain,  and  like 
Trumbull  he  afterwards  entered  the  legal  profession. 
He  had  recited  an  ambitious  poem  at  his  graduation 
and  nine  years  later  had  published  by  subscription  The 
Vision  of  Columbus,  but  these  and  other  poems  from  his 
pen  he  incorporated  in  his  colossal  epic,  The  Coiumbiad. 
This  book,  first  published  in  1808,  with  engravings 
executed  in  London,  was  the  most  magnificent  speci- 
men of  book-making  that  had  ever  been  attempted  in 


THE  SONG  AND   ROMANCE  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.      97 

America.  From  a  literary  point  of  view,  however,  it 
ranks  among  the  curiosities  of  American  literature.  In 
ten  books  and  over  seven  thousand  lines  it  tells,  in  the 
metre  of  Pope,  the  entire  history  of  America  both  real 
and  imaginary.  The  poet  represents  Hesper  as  con- 
ducting Columbus  to  a  lofty  elevation,  whence  he 
shows  him  at  a  glance  all  the  future  kingdoms  of  the 
New  World  and  the  glory  of  them.  The  varied  pano- 
rama of  American  history  is  unfolded  before  him  and 
he  is  duly  impressed  with  the  tremendous  possibilities 
open  to  the  young  republic.  The  theme  is  certainly 
broad  enough  for  an  epic,  but  unfortunately  Barlow 
was  not  an  epic  poet.  There  are  here  and  there  beau- 
tiful passages,  but  the  poem  is  unwieldy,  full  of  digres- 
sions and  curious  expressions.  Hawthorne  declared  that 
it  should  be  dramatized  and  put  upon  the  stage  to  the 
accompaniment  of  artillery  and  thunder  and  lightning. 
Barlow's  humorous  little  poem  Hasty  Pudding,  written 
in  France  in  1793  and  dedicated  to  Martha  Washington, 
is  his  best  claim  to  remembrance.  As  a  statesman  and 
diplomatist  Barlow  holds  a  high  place  in  American  his- 
tory. He  was  consul  to  Algiers  and  to  France,  besides 
being  sent  at  different  times  on  many  important  foreign 
missions. 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  Hasty  Pudding,  Canto  I. 

"The  Hartford  Wits. »  —  With  Trumbull,  D wight, 
and  Barlow  as  leaders,  Yale  became  for  a  time  the 
intellectual  centre  and  Hartford  the  literary  capital  of 
America.  About  these  gathered  a  really  brilliant  little 


98  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

band  of  ephemeral  versifiers  who  lent  their  aid  to  the 
Federalist  party,  and  with  their  spicy  satirical  poems 
gave  picturesqueness  to  the  controversy  of  the  times. 
First  appeared  The  AnarcUad  (1786-87),  a  long  poem 
written  in  concert  by  Barlow,  Trumbull,  David  Hum- 
phreys, and  Dr.  Lemuel  Hopkins,  and  published  in  the 
New  Haven  G-azette.  Afterwards  followed  The  JEcho,  and 
The  Political  Greenhouse,  from  the  pens  of  Richard  Alsop, 
Hopkins,  Theodore  D wight,  a  son  of  Timothy  D  wight, 
and  others.  But  the  brilliancy  of  these  "Pleiades  of 
Connecticut "  was  only  a  passing  phenomenon. 

4.   PHILIP  FKENEAU  (1752-1832). 

Life  (by  Duyckinck  in  Poems  Relating  to  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution,  1865;  by  Mary  Austin,  1902.  The 
complete  poetical  works  of  Freneau  have  been  edited 
in  three  volumes  by  Pattee,  1903). 

Although  Trumbull,  the  laureate  of  the  age,  made 
the  grand  prophecy  that 

"  Fame  shall  attend  and  future  years  admire 
Barlow's  strong  flight  and  Dwight's  poetic  fire," 

the  fame  of  all  these  poets  has  vanished  with  their 
generation,  while  a  contemporary,  who  shared  nothing 
in  the  prophecy,  has  been  remembered  because  he  for- 
got once  or  twice  the  lifeless  rules  and  models  of  his 
age  and  sang  spontaneously  of  Nature. 

Philip  Freneau  was  born  in  New  York  City,  of 
French  parentage,  in  1752.  With  Madison,  he  was 
graduated  from  Princeton  in  1772,  furnishing  for  the 


THE  SONG  AND  ROMANCE  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.     99 

commencement  exercise  part  of  the  poem,  The  Rising 
Grlory  of  America.  Three  years  later,  after  a  wan- 
dering career  as  teacher  and  student,  he  found  him- 
self in  New  York  at  the  opening  of  the  Revolution. 
His  muse  immediately  awoke.  He  published  in  rapid 
succession  a  half  dozen  strong  satires,  then  sailed  for 
the  West  Indies  with  a  wealthy  friend.  During  the 
next  three  years  he  resided  on  the  island  of  Santa 
Cruz.  Here  he  did  his  most  spontaneous  work.  The 
House  of  Night  and  a  few  other  poems  of  this  period 
place  him  among  the  forces  that  brought  about  the 
romantic  revolt  in  English  literature.  Judged  by  the 
standards  of  the  time,  they  are  most  remarkable.  Had 
the  poet  had  encouragement  and  kindly  criticism  and  a 
literary  environment  he  might  have  taken  a  leading 
place  among  the  poets  of  the  age.  But  America  was 
not  ready  for  imaginative  poetry.  She  demanded  jingles 
and  clever  lampoons  on  the  British,  and  Freneau,  after 
a  protest,  yielded.  He  edited  in  Philadelphia,  during 
the  last  years  of  the  war,  The  Freeman's  Journal^  and 
into  its  columns  he  poured  poem  after  poem,  nearly  all 
on  contemporary  themes.  The  collection  of  these  effu- 
sions, made  in  1786,  is  almost  a  rhymed  history  of  the 
period.  But  the  poet  was  a  restless  soul.  He  longed 
for  movement,  and  with  the  aid  of  his  brother,  a  man  of 
some  means,  became  master  of  a  sailing  vessel  plying 
between  New  York  and  southern  ports.  In  1790,  he 
left  the  sea  and  later  was  appointed  translator  in  the 
State  Department  at  Philadelphia,  then  the  seat  of 
government,  serving  in  the  meantime  as  editor  of  the 


100  AMERICAN  LITERATURE, 

National  Q-azette.  In  179*7,  after  editing  for  a  time  the 
Jersey  Chronicle,  he  started  in  New  York  The  Timepiece 
and  Literary  Chronicle,  which  had,  however,  but  a  brief 
existence.  The  poet  then  took  once  more  to  the  sea, 
but  after  a  few  years  of  rough  voyaging  he  settled 
down  on  his  ancestral  estate  in  New  Jersey,  where  he 
lived  until  the  ripe  age  of  eighty. 

Freneau  was  a  voluminous  poet.  Besides  numerous 
broadsides  and  pamphlets,  he  published  four  editions 
of  his  poems,  one  of  which,  that  of  1795,  he  printed  on 
his  own  press.  He  took  great  pains  with  his  work, 
pruning  and  revising  with  tireless  hand,  and  he  had 
the  welfare  of  his  creations  very  much  at  heart.  The 
bulk  of  his  work,  however,  tested  by  modern  standards, 
is  inferior.  Here  and  there,  however,  are  true  gems. 
The  Wild  Honeysuckle,  for  instance,  a  little  lyric  of 
four  stanzas,  is  the  first  bud  of  that  branch  of  literature 
which  reached  its  full  flower  in  Bryant,  Whittier,  and 
Longfellow.  Professor  Greenough  White  declares  it 
"the  first  stammer  of  poetry  in  America." 

Despite  his  inferior  work,  Freneau  deserves  high 
praise.  He  was  a  true  poet,  doomed  to  wander  in  a 
barren  region,  amid  those  who  cared  nothing  for  true 
poetry.  At  length  the  environment  was  too  strong ;  the 
spark  within  him  became  dim  and  at  length  flickered  out. 

The  American  Landscape —  As  yet  the  beauties  of  the 
American  landscape  had  been  unsung.  The  autumn  for- 
est, the  Indian  Summer,  the  wild  flowers  new  to  the  botanr 
1st ;  the  nameless  lake  afar  in  the  hemlock  woods ;  the 
broad  prairies,  the  fading  race  of  red  men, — all  these  were 


THE  SONG  AND   ROMANCE   OF  THE  REVOLUTION      101 

full  of  wonderful  poetic  possibility  and  awaiting  their 
laureate.  Freneau  little  knew  of  the  possibilities  of  the 
wonderland  in  which  he  was  the  pioneer.  In  his  "  Indian 
Burying  Ground,"  his  "Indian  Student,"  and  other 
pieces  he  struck  the  first  poetic  note  with  the  Indian  for  . 
a  theme.  To  the  early  Americans  the  Indian  had  been 
anything  but  a  poetic  creature.  He  had  been  looked 
upon  by  eyes  distorted  with  terror.  In  Puritan  New 
England  he  had  been  considered  an  agent  of  Satan  him- 
self. But  as  he  had  vanished  from  his  old  hunting- 
grounds  the  romantic  mist  that  is  wont  to  involve  a 
fading  race,  no  matter  how  ugly,  had  begun  to  enfold 
him.  Freneau  was  the  first  to  perceive  this  new  light 
in  its  literary  bearings,  and,  though  he  caught  it  but 
imperfectly,  he  deserves  praise  as  the  first  pioneer  in 
a  new  literary  field. 

Freneau's  "  House  of  Night,"  a  sombre  poem  suggest- 
ing Coleridge,  is  the  first  note  in  the  weird  chorus  soon 
swelled  by  Brown,  Poe,  and  Hawthorne. 

REQUIRED  READING. —  "  The  Wild  Honeysuckle ;  "  "  The  Houses, 
of  Night ;  "  "  To  a  Honey  Bee ;  "  "  The  Indian  Student." 


II.    THE  ROMANCE. 

[For  definition,  see  preface  to  Hawthorne's  House  of 
the  Seven  G-ables;  consult  also  Richardson,  II.,  336-340.] 
Toward  the  close  of  the  Eighteenth  Century  the  novel  of 
real  life,  as  Fielding  wrote  it,  gave  way  to  the  romance, 
and  soon  Mrs.  Radcliffe  was  the  most  popular  English 
writer  of  fiction.  A  school  of  followers  immediately 


102  '    AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

arose,  which  soon  carried  this  form  of  fiction  beyond 
bounds  that  could  be  tolerated.  The  field  of  this  school 
1717-1797.  Hor-  is  well  indicated  by  the  titles  of  the  books 
*The  Castle  o/  that  it  produced.  Its  most  gifted  member 
1760-184.  wn-  was  Godwin,  whose  Caleb  Williams  is  a 
Powerful  though  unwholesome  romance. 
s*irong>  healthful  village  tales  of  Jane 


Mysteries  of        Austen,  and  the  sturdy  romances  of  Scott, 

Udolpho. 

1756-1836.  wn-  put  to  flight  these  pestilent  night  mists, 

Kara  Godwin.        f  °  r 

Caleb  wuiiams.  but  not  before  they  had  made  a  lasting 

G^Lewis.'   The    impression  upon  our  literature. 

Tates'of  Terror       Lack  of  Background  in  America.  —  (Sted- 

SS^JtaSS  man'  Ch*  L'  3;  Richardson>  H.,  282-284.) 
enstein.  Prose  fiction  in  America  is  of  a  compara- 

tively recent  date.  Romance,  with  an  American  back- 
ground, was  hard  to  make  in  the  early  years  of  the 
republic  when  the  Colonial  and  Revolutionary  periods 
seemed  as  yet  too  near  for  romantic  perspective.  "  Every- 
thing," wrote  Prescott,  "  wore  a  spick-and-span  new 
aspect,  and  lay  in  the  broad  garish  sunshine  of  every- 
day life."  Even  in  recent  years  we  find  Hawthorne 
complaining  of  the  difficulties  that  attended  his  work  : 

"  No  author,  without  a  trial,  can  conceive  of  the  difficulty  of 
writing  a  romance  about  a  country  where  there  is  no  shadow,  no 
antiquity,  no  mystery,  no  picturesque  and  gloomy  wrong,  nor  any- 
thing but  a  commonplace  prosperity,  in  broad  and  simple  daylight, 
as  is  happily  the  case  with  my  dear  native  land.  It  will  be  very 
long,  I  trust,  before  romance  writers  may  find  congenial  and  easily 
handled  themes,  either  in  the  annals  of  our  stalwart  republic,  or  in 
any  characteristic  and  probable  events  of  our  individual  lives. 
Romance  and  poetry,  ivy,  lichens,  and  wall-flowers,  need  ruin  to 
make  them  grow."  —  Preface  to  The  Marble  Faun. 


THE  SONG  AND  ROMANCE  OF  THE  REVOLUTION,      103 


CHARLES  BROCKDEN  BROWN  (1771-1810). 

"  They  [Brown's  novels]  are  the  historical  beginning  of  all  imagi- 
native prose  literature  in  America ;  and  it  is  impossible  to  understand 
its  development  without  having  read  them."  —  Thomas  Wentworth 
Higginson. 

Life  (by  William  Dunlap,  with  the  1815  edition  of 
Brown's   novels;    by   W.   H.  Prescott  in    Wielandt 
Sparks'  American  Biography;  by  Charles 
J.  Stevenson.     An  elegant  six-volume  edi- 
tion  of  Brown's  novels  appeared  in  1887).    J<*™  Taibot. 

Brown  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  of  Quaker  ancestry, 
Jan.  17,  1771.  Of  retiring  habits  and  delicate  health, 
he  received  much  of  his  education  at  home,  where,  left 
largely  to  himself,  he  became  an  omnivorous  reader.  At 
the  age  of  sixteen  he  had,  as  was  the  fashion  of  his  day, 
planned  three  epic  poems,  none  of  which,  fortunately, 
ever  came  to  maturity.  Shortly  afterwards  he  began  the 
study  of  law,  but  soon  abandoning  the  profession  for 
which  he  was  in  no  way  fitted,  he  gave  himself  wholly 
to  literary  work.  In  1798,  while  living  in  New  York 
City,  he  published  Widand,  his  first  romance,  and  fol- 
lowing this  in  rapid  succession,  five  others,  completing 
the  series  upon  which  his  fame  depends. 

In  1799,  Brown  established  in  New  York  the  Monthly 
Magazine  and  American  Review,  which  died,  however, 
before  the  year  was  out.  Nothing  daunted,  he  estab- 
lished in  Philadelphia  the  Literary  Magazine  and  Ameri- 
can Register,  which  continued  with  considerable  suc- 
cess for  five  years.  During  the  last  of  his  life  Brown 


104  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

wrote  many  political  pamphlets  and  several  excellent 
biographies. 

Wieland,  the  first  of  Brown's  romances,  is  a  wild, 
improbable  story  abounding  in  stilted  description  and 
ghastly  incident.  The  hero,  induced  by  voices  that  he 
believes  to  be  from  heaven,  but  which  prove  to  have 
proceeded  from  a  ventriloquist,  deliberately  sacrifices 
with  his  own  hand  his  wife  and  children.  Arthur 
Mervyn,  a  vivid  picture  of  the  yellow  fever  scourge  in 
Philadelphia  in  1793,  written  from  actual  experience,  is, 
for  faithfulness  of  description,  almost  the  equal  of 
Defoe's  Journal  of  the  Grreat  Plague.  Edgar  Huntley  ; 
or  the  Memoirs  of  a  Sleep  Walker  is  without  doubt 
Brown's  strongest  work.  Its  scenes  are  laid  in  the  wild 
and  almost  inaccessible  recesses  of  the  early  Pennsyl- 
vania forests.  Aside  from  the  morbid  element  pervad- 
ing the  book,  it  might  have  been  written  by  Cooper.  It 
introduces  the  Indian,  and  portrays  with  rare  skill  the 
scenery  and  life  of  the  woods. 

His  Style.  —  (Prescott's  essay  on  Charles  BrocJcden 
Brown;  Richardson,  II.,  286-289.)  Brown  took  as 
his  master  the  English  novelist  Godwin,  and,  as  a  re- 
sult, his  books  belong  on  the  same  shelf  as  Caleb  Wil- 
liams and  The  Mysteries  of  Udolpho.  Judged  by  the 
standards  set  by  Poe  and  Hawthorne,  his  work  is  crude 
and  defective  in  art.  The  story  is  at  times  tediously 
spun  out ;  character  is  dissected  with  disgusting  minute- 
ness ;  the  plots  are  glaringly  improbable ;  the  characters 
either  monsters  or  angels.  He  is  not  even  a  "  clumsy 
Poe,"  as  some  have  called  him,  so  vastly  inferior  is 


THE  SONG  AND  ROMANCE  OF  THE  REVOLUTION.    105 

his  art  to  his  who  produced  the  "  Fall  of  the  Huuse  of 
Usher." 

Brown's  excellences  are  his  graphic  portrayals  of 
action  and  his  descriptions  of  wild  nature.  He  had  the 
art  of  stimulating  expectation ;  —  it  is  hard  to  lay  down 
one  of  his  romances  unfinished ;  one  reads  on  and  on  in 
a  sort  of  ghastly  dream  until  at  length  the  end  of  the 
book  completes  the  hideous  nightmare. 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  Prescott's  essay  on  Charles  Brockden 
Brown. 


vn. 

THE  FIRST  CREATIVE  PERIOD. 

1812-1837. 

The  War  of  1812.  — (See  "Effect  of  the  War  of  1812 
on  the  Consolidation  of  the  Union,"  J.  H.  U.  Studies, 
V.,  251.)  The  quarter  of  a  century  following  the  or- 
ganization of  the  United  States  government  had  been 
a  period  of  hesitancy  and  doubt,  during  which  rapid 
national  development  and  an  independent  literature 
were  impossible.  The  workings  of  the  new  govern- 
ment, so  unlike  anything  else  in  the  history  of  nations, 
had  been  watched  with  breathless  interest.  Would  the 
new  Constitution  survive  a  crisis  ?  Would  it  stand  the 
searching  tests  of  time  ?  Could  the  nation  ever  hope  to 
take  a  secure  place  beside  the  powers  of  Europe  ? 

The  second  war  with  England  shed  a  flood  of  light 
upon  many  of  these  questions ;  its  conclusion  opened  a 
new  era  in  American  history.  In  the  words  of  Senator 
Benton : 

" It  immensely  elevated  the  national  character,  and,  as  a  conse- 
quence, put  an  end  to  insults  and  outrages  to  which  we  had  been 

subject.     No  more  impressments ;  no  more  search- 
180&-1817.  .  ,  •  i_MT 

Madison's  ln£  our  ships ;  no  more  killing ;  no  more  carrying 

Administration,    off  to  be  forced  to  serve  on  British  ships  against 

ton\urnedhbng~   their   OWn   Countl7-      The   national   flag    became 
the  British.          respected.     It  became  an  -ZEgis  of  those  who  were 

106 


THE  FIRST  CREATIVE  PERIOD.  107 

under  it.     The  national  character  appeared  in  a  1815.    Jack- 

new  light  abroad,  we  were  no  longer  considered  as  Ne^CMeanJ  ** 

a  people  so  addicted  to  commerce  as  to  be  insen-  1817-1825. 

sible  to  insult.  ...    It  was  a  war  necessary  to  the  Monroe's 

honor  and  interest  of  the  United  States  and  was  1325-1829 

bravely  fought     and     honorably  concluded,   and  Adams' 
marks  a  proud  era  in  our  history."—  Thirty  Years' 

View.  Jackson's 

_  rm  •    j  •          Administration. 

The  New  Era.  —  The  period  opening 
with  the  close  of  this  war  and  ending  with  the  financial 
crash  of  1837  has  been  called,  in  the  words  of  President 
Monroe,  "  the  era  of  good  feeling."  The  doubt  and  hes- 
itancy of  an  earlier  day  had  vanished  and  now  patriotism 
fairly  effervesced  from  the  people.  It  was  the  day  of 
turgid  Fourth-of-July  oratory,  of  "  spread-eagle  "  proph- 
ecy, of  great  expectations.  With  confidence  in  the  gov- 
ernment came  new  intellectual  activity.  Thirteen  states 
An  independent  literature  began  to  be  the^endof  the™ 
dreamed  of.  On  all  sides  resounded  the  ^ 

K91.    Vermont. 

hum  and  activity  of   a  new  intellectual  1792. 

Kentucky. 
llie.  1796. 

Immigration.  —  During  the  period  a  new 
and  important  factor  appeared  in  American 

,  .  .  »  •  -IT      . 

history  in  the  shape  of  a  rapidly  increasing 
immigration   from   Europe.     During   two  i®17-.   .    . 
weeks    in    the    summer    of    1817,   there  1818.   Illinois. 
arrived  from  the  Old  World  2,272  people  SSama. 
seeking  homes  in  America,  and  from  that  182°-   Maine. 

Vi   XT.  L    -  -u     XT.       182L    Missouri. 

time  until  the  present  immigrants  by  the  i836> 


shipload  from  every  quarter  of  the  earth 

have  poured  constantly  upon  us.     A  part  Michigan. 

of  this  motley,  polyglot  crowd  joined  the  stream  of  emi- 


108  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

grants  that  soon  began  to  pour  into  the  West,  until 
whole  sections  and  even  States  became  dominated  by 
them.  New  England  and  the  Middle  States  were  inun- 
dated until  they  were  in  danger  of  losing  their  individ- 
uality. As  yet  it  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  wide- 
spread influence  that  this  factor  has  had  upon  American 
history  and  development. 

"Westward  Ho!"  — 

"  O  you  youths,  western  youths, 

So  impatient,  full  of  action,  full  of  manly  pride  and  friendship, 
Plain  I  see  you,  western  youths,  see  you  tramping  with  the  fore- 
most. 

Pioneers ;  O  Pioneers."  Walt  Whitman. 

(See  Roosevelt's  Winning  of  the  West.  Also  Irving's  Captain 
Bonneville,  and  A  Tour  on  the  Prairies  ;  Paulding's  Westward  Ho  ! 
Parkman's  Oregon  Trail ;  Goodrich's  Recollections  of  a  Lifetime ; 
Flint's  Recollections;  Drake's  Making  of  the  Great  West;  Benton's 
Thirty  Years'  View,  and  standard  biographies  of  Jackson,  Adams, 
Calhoun,  Clay,  Webster,  Benton,  and  Lewis  Cass.) 

The  purchase  of  the  vast  Louisiana  territory,  and  the 
resulting  Lewis  and  Clarke  expedition,  turned  the  eyeb 
of  all  the  East  westward,  and  after  the  cold  summer  of 
1816  and  the  late  spring  of  1817,  with  its  attendant 
famine,  a  general  exodus,  which  soon  assumed  enor- 
mous proportions,  began  from  the  Atlantic  States.  All 
through  the  period  long  trains  of  white-topped  emigrant 
wagons,  often  containing  whole  communities  with  all 
their  possessions,  were  rolling  toward  the  Mississippi. 
It  was  literally  a  "  Wild  West "  that  received  them. 
Everything  beyond  Eastern  New  York  was  the  primeval 
wilderness  represented  in  Cooper's  novels.  In  1825, 


THE  FIRST  CREATIVE  PERIOD.  109 

when  the  Erie  canal  was  opened,  it  ran  its  entire  length 
through  virgin  forests.  The  fertile  valleys  of  the  Cen- 
tral States  were  wild  land  over  which  herds  of  buffaloes 
swarmed.  Beyond  the  Mississippi  only  a  few  hardy 
adventurers  had  dared  to  venture.  The  settlers  fol- 
lowed the  parallels  of  latitude.  Little  New  England 
villages  sprung  up  about  the  Great  Lakes;  the  Virginians 
poured  into  Kentucky  and  the  neighboring  regions; 
while  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia  sent  their  settlers  into 
the  territory  to  the  south. 

The  conditions  throughout  the  period  were  wild  and 
picturesque.  It  was  another  colonial  era.  The  new 
and  strange  environment;  the  Indians  and  the  abun- 
dant fauna  ;  the  rush  and  excitement  of  border  life  ;  the 
new  villages  springing  up  by  every  stream,  were  but 
the  repetition  of  the  conditions  and  experience  of  two 
centuries  before. 

Inventions.  —  Another  element,  that  must  be  consid- 
ered if  we  would  understand  the  spirit  of  the  age,  was 
the  general  introduction  of  several  world-  1794.  Whit-  " 

1     .  .       .   .         .  .  .  -TTT-T  .  ,         ,  ney's  cotton 

revolutionizing  inventions.    Whitney  s  cot-  gin. 

ton  gin  marks  an  era  in  the  history  of  the 

South  ;  the  steamboat  was  a  powerful  factor 

in  the  development  of  our  commerce.     It  isso.  First  pas- 

.  senger  train  in 

brought    Europe    many    days    nearer    to  America. 


America,  and,  plying  on   the   Mississippi 

and  its  branches,  it  greatly  aided  in  open-  e£raPh- 

J  1844.    First  tel- 

ing  up  the  great  West.     The  most  rapid  egraphiine— 

0       r  '  Washington  to 

development    followed    the    introduction  Baltimore 
from  England  of  the  railroad,  and  when  Morse  had  per- 
fected the  telegraph,  the  modern  era  had  begun. 


110  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Literary  Conditions.  —  (See  Godwin's  Bryant,  and 
Cairns's  On  the  Development  of  American  Literature  from 
1815  to  1833,  with  Especial  Reference  to  Periodicals, 
1898.  For  Epoch  in  English  Literature,  see  Arnold, 
Ch.  VII.;  Taine,  Ch.  XVI.)  When,  as  late  as  1820, 
Sydney  Smith,  in  the  columns  of  the  Edinburgh  Review* 
asked  his  famous  question,  "Who  reads  an  American 
book?"  there  was,  at  least  on  his  side  of  the  Atlantic, 
but  one  answer.  Franklin  had  been  admired  throughout 
England  and  France  as  a  scientist  and  a  statesman,  and 
Edwards  had  commanded  respect  as  a  metaphysician,  but 
no  other  American  writers  were  known  in  Europe.  The 
literary  outlook,  even  when  viewed  by  American  eyes, 
was  far  from  being  a  bright  one.  With  rare  exceptions 
every  literary  production  in  America  had  been  merely 
a  feeble  imitation  of  some  English  model.  As  Lowell 
expressed  it,  the  Americans 

"Stole  Englishmen's  books  and  thought  Englishmen's 

thought, 
With  English  salt  on  her  tail  our  wild  Eagle  was  caught." 

At  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  period  even  the 
imitators  had  ceased  to  write;  literary  production  of 
every  variety  had  come  almost  to  a  dead  stop,  and  those 
who  predicted  that  America  could  evolve  a  native  l^er- 
ature  only  after  centuries  had  abundant  ground  for 
argument. 

The  literary  situation  in  America  at  the  close  of  the 
Revolutionary  period  has  been  admirably  summed  up  by 
R.  H.  Stoddard. 


THE  FIRST  CREATIVE  PERIOD.  Ill 

"  Authorship,  as  a  craft,  had  no  followers  except  Charles  Brock- 
den  Brown,  who  was  still  editing  the  Literary  Magazine,  and  per- 
haps John  Dennie,  who  was  editing  the  Portfolio.  The  few  poets 
of  which  America  boasted  were  silent.  Trumbull,  the  author  of 
M'Fingal,  which  was  published  the  year  before  Irving's  birth,  was 
a  judge  of  the  Superior  Court ;  Dwight,  whose  Conquest  of  Canaan 
was  published  three  years  later,  was  merely  the  president  of  Yale 
College ;  Barlow^  whose  Vision  of  Columbus  was  published  two  years 
later  still,  and  who  had  returned  to  this  country  after  shining 
abroad  as  a  diplomatist,  was  living  in  splendor  on  the  banks  of  the 
Potomac  and  brooding  over  that  unreadable  poem  which  he  ex- 
panded into  the  epic  of  the  Columbiad ;  and  Freneau,  by  all  odds 
the  best  of  our  early  versifiers,  who  had  published  a  collection  of 
his  effusions  in  1795,  had  abandoned  the  muses  and  was  sailing  a 
sloop  between  Savannah,  Charleston,  and  the  West  Indies ;  Pier- 
pont,  who  was  two  years  younger  than  Irving,  was  a  private  tutor 
in  South  Carolina ;  Dana  was  a  student  at  Harvard,  and  Bryant,  a 
youth  of  twelve  at  Cummington,  was  scribbling  juvenile  poems 
which  were  being  published  in  a  newspaper  at  Northampton.  .  .  . 
Everybody  who  read  fiction  was  familiar  with  the  novels  of  Field- 
ing and  Smollett,  and  lovers  of  political  literature  were  familiar 
with  the  speeches  of  Burke  and  the  letters  of  Junius.  Everybody 
read  (or  could  read)  the  poetical  works  of  Cowper  and  Burns, 
Campbell's  Pleasures  of  Hope,  and  Scott's  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel, 
and  whatever  else  in  the  shape  of  verse  American  publishers 
thought  it  worth  their  while  to  reprint  for  them." —  Life  of  Irving. 

The  publication,  in  1809,  of  Knickerbocker's  History 
of  New  York,  Irving's  first  important  work,  marks  the 
opening  of  a  new  era.  "  It  was,"  writes  Professor  Beers, 
"  the  first  American  book,  in  the  higher  departments  of 
literature,  which  needed  no  apology  and  stood  squarely 
on  its  own  legs."  Its  date  is  the  birth  date  of  American 
literature. 


VIII. 

WASHINGTON   IRVING. 

1783-1859. 

'•  The  father  of  American  Literature." 

"  The  first  ambassador  whom  the  new  world  of  letters  sent  to  the 
old."  —  Thackeray. 

Dutch  New  York. — No  American  city  has  had  a  more 
picturesque  history  or  has  undergone  a  more  complete 
metamorphosis  than  New  York.  In  1664,  as  New 
Amsterdam,  it  was  a  dreamy  Dutch  village,  —  its  lazy 
windmills  and  sleepy  streets  between  houses  of  antique 
architecture  contrasting  strangely  with  the  wild  scenery 
about  it.  For  almost  half  a  century  it  had  been  the 
headquarters  of  the  Dutch  in  America,  and  a  century 
of  English  occupation  did  not  banish  the  atmosphere 
of  Holland  from  its  limits.  As  late  as  the  beginning  of 
the  present  century,  the  old  Dutch  burghers  were  still 
a  prominent  element  of  the  population;  Often  of  a  sum- 
mer evening  they  might  be  seen  sitting  in  the  doorways 
of  their  quaint,  gabled  houses,  built  a  century  before 
of  bricks  brought  from  Holland,  smoking  their  long' 
stemmed  pipes  in  peaceful  re  very.  Their  whitewashed 
dwellings  and  picturesque  windmills  were  still  a  promi- 
nent feature  in  the  landscape. 

SUGGESTED  READING. — "  The  Historian,"  in  JBracebridge  Hall. 
.  112 


WASHINGTON  IRVING.  113 

Life  of  Irving  (by  his  nephew,  Pierre  M.  Irving, 
1862;  by  David  J.  Hill  in  American  Authors  Series, 
1879;  by  Charles  Dudley  Warner  in  American  Men  of 
Letters  Series,  1881.  See  also  Irvingiana,  a  collection  of 
various  tributes  to  Irving  published  soon  after  his  death. 
For  more  extended  list  of  authorities  see  Reference 
Lists  of  the  Providence  Public  Library,  April,  1883). 

In  this  quaint  old  city  of  fast-fading  traditions, 
Washington  Irving  was  born  April  3,  1783,  the  year 
that  witnessed  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  struggle. 
He  was  but  five  months  old  when  General  Washington 
entered  the  city  just  evacuated  by  the  British,  and  by  a 
happy  chance  he  received  the  blessing  of  the  great  man 
of  whom  he  was  destined  to  become  the  chief  biog 
rapher.  Irving's  father  was  Scotch,  while  his  mother 
was  of  English  descent.  They  had  come  to  America 
scarce  twenty  years  before,  and  with  limited  means 
were  struggling  along  with  a  family  of  eleven  children. 
School  privileges  under  such  circumstances  were  neces- 
sarily limited,  but  the  youthful  Irving  early  acquired 
a  voracious  appetite  for  reading,  and  within  his  reach 
were  the  volumes  of  Chaucer  and  Spenser  and  Addison, 
which  he  well-nigh  learned  by  heart.  Throughout  his 
boyhood  he  was  fond  of  solitary  excursions,  wandering 
often,  as  he  tells  us  in  The  Sketch  Booh,  into  surrounding 
regions,  drinking  in  eagerly  the  strange  tales  told  by 
Dutch  housewives  of  the  old  days,  so  involved  by  their 
drowsy  imaginations  in  mystery  and  romance. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "  The  Author's  Account  of  Himself," 
and  "  The  Voyage."  The  Sketch  Book. 


114  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Salmagundi.  —  The    condition    of    living's    health, 

always    delicate,   became   in   his   twenty-first    year   so 

alarming  to  his  friends  that  they  sent  him 

1804.  Napoleon  _  .*>.»  n  ,  •       -, 

made  Emperor     to  the  south  of  Europe,  where  he  remained 

1805.  Trafalgar  ^or  ^wo  years-'    Returning  in  1806  com- 


pletely  cured,  he  resumed  for  a  time  the 
1805.  Austeriitz.  study  of  law  which  his  European  journey 

had  interrupted.  But  literature  appeared 
to  him  far  more  attractive  than  law.  Early  the  follow- 
ing year  his  exuberant  spirits  and  teeming  literary 
fancies  found  vent  in  a  little  periodical  entitled  Salma- 
gundi, or  the  Whim-Whams  and  Opinions  of  Launcelot 
Langstaff,  Esq.,  and  Others.  The  "others"  mentioned 
in  the  title  were  Irving's  brother  William,  and  his 
brother-in-law,  James  K.  Paulding.  The  object  of  the 
publication,  as  stated  in  the  Salutatory,  was  "simply 
to  instruct  the  young,  reform  the  old,  correct  the  town, 
and  castigate  the  age."  It  was  published  anonymously, 
and  created  much  curiosity  and  interest.  It  bubbled 
over  with  fun,  mock  seriousness,  and  whimsical  fancies, 
yet,  bright  as  it  was,  it  gave  little  promise  of  an  original 
American  literature.  The  correction  of  the  town  meant 
simply  the  moulding  of  it  to  contemporary  London 
standards,  and  as  far  as  its  individuality  is  concerned  it 
might  have  been  written  by  an  Englishman  in  London. 
After  twenty  numbers,  the  young  editors  tired  of  their 
play  and  the  publication  ceased. 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  The  Salutatory,  Salmagundi,  No.  1. 
For  definition  see  Dictionary.  See  also  E.  A.  Duyckinck's  Intro- 
duction to  Salmagundi,  edition  of  1860. 


WASHINGTON  IRVING.  115 

Knickerbocker's  History  of  New  York  (1809).— 

"  Of  all  mock-heroic  works  .  .  .  the  gayest,  the  airiest,  and  the 
least  tiresome."  —  Bryant. 

To  the  youthful  editors  of  Salmagundi,  with  their  ef- 
fervescent spirits,  "the  town"  seemed  a  huge  comedy 
for  their  criticism  and  delight.  Nothing  escaped  them. 
A  popular  handbook  of  New  York,  written  in  a  digni- 
fied, serious  style,  amused  them  so  immoderately  that 
Irving,  with  his  brother  Peter,  immediately  planned  a 
burlesque  of  the  work,  commencing  in  all  seriousness 
with  the  creation  of  the  world,  and  bringing  in  broad 
caricatures  of  the  Dutch  founders  of  the  city.  Any- 
thing more  serious  than  an  ephemeral  parody  was  not 
once  dreamed  of.  But  Irving  soon  realized  the  rich- 
ness of  the  material  upon  which  he  had  stumbled.  He 
found  the  period  of  the  Dutch  supremacy  wonderfully 
full  of  literary  possibilities.  It  was  far  enough  away 
in  the  past  to  be  robed  in  the  haze  of  romance,  and  it 
offered  untold  opportunities  for  humorous  treatment. 
The  subject  grew  upon  the  author,  and  he  carefully 
elaborated  it. 

The  story  of  Irving's  ingenious  hoax,  which  attrib- 
uted the  authorship  of  the  history  to  one  Diedrich 
Knickerbocker,  an  old  Dutch  gentleman  whose  disap- 
pearance was  duly  chronicled  in  the  newspapers  of  the 
day,  is  told  in  the  preface  of  the  work.  Many  were 
deceived  by  it;  all  were  curious,  and  when  the  work, 
which  had  been  published  in  Philadelphia  to  increase 
the  mystery,  appeared,  its  success  was  phenomenal.  The 


116  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

descendants  of  the  old  Dutch  settlers  were  greatly 
shocked  at  its  liberties,  but  every  one  else  was  delighted 
with  its  boisterous  humor.  It  was  republished  in  Eng- 
land, and  was  hailed  by  Campbell  and  Scott  as  a  real 
addition  to  the  literature  of  the  world. 

The  humor  of  the  book  is  irresistible.  "  The  author 
makes  us  laugh,"  says  Bryant,  "  because  he  can  no  more 
help  it  than  we  can  help  laughing."  With  such  per- 
fect art  has  it  been  constructed  that  it  has  all  the  grav- 
ity of  authentic  narration ;  indeed  it  is  said  to  have  been 
once  gravely  quoted  by  a  German  editor,  Goller,  as  real 
history. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "Account  of  the  Author,"  in  the  His- 
tory of  New  York ;  also  "  Wouter  Van  Twiller,"  Book  III.,  ch.  1 ; 
and  "  The  Manners  of  our  Grandfathers,"  Book  III.,  ch.  3.  See 
also  "  The  Author's  Apology,"  in  edition  of  1860. 

1.  The  Period  of  Sketches.  —  Irving's  literary  career, 
which  opened  with  the  publication  of  the  Knickerloclc- 

1.  DUTCH-          er's  History  of  New  York,  may  be  divided 

The  in^°  f°ur  distinct  periods,  corresponding  to 
the  four  literary  themes  which  at  differ- 
of  ent  periods  of  his  life  engaged  him.     The 
Hollow,''  interval  between   1809  and  1826  may  be 
Book.  characterized  as  the  period  of  sketches, 

liger  "  in  Brace-       During  the  five  years  following  his  first 

bridge  Hall.  ,°  *  . 

Tales  of  a  successful  book  Irving  was  variously  en- 

Traveller.Pwt     gaged?   firgt    ^    editor    ^    pniladelpnia    of 

Wolf ert's  Roost,  the  Analytic  Magazine,  and  afterwards,  in 

2.  ENGLISH        1814,  as  aide-de-camp  to  Governor  Tomp- 

AND  RANDOM       ,  .  ,—,,        „  ,,  .  ,. 

SKETCHES:         kins.     The  following  year,  m  connection 


WASHINGTON  IRVING.  117 

with  the  mercantile  business  of  his  broth-  The  Sketch 

JjOOiC* 

ers,  he  sailed  for  England,  intending  to  be  Bracebridge 
absent   only  a  few  months.     His  literary   Tales  of  a 
fame  had  preceded  him,  and  he  found  him-  The  Cray  on 


self  welcomed  in  the  most  exclusive  literary 
circles  of  England.  He  visited  Campbell  at  Sydenham, 
and  dined  with  the  famous  publisher,  Murray.  In  Edin- 
burgh he  was  the  guest  of  the  Scottish  critic,  Jeffrey, 
and  he  passed  two  delightful  days  with  Sir  Walter 
Scott  at  Abbotsford. 

SUGGESTED  /READING.  —  Abbotsford.  See,  also,  Lockhart's  Life 
of  Scott,  Vol.  V. 

The  Sketch  Book  (1819).  — 

"  He  colored  the  shores  of  the  Hudson  with  the  softest  hues  of 
legend.  The  banks  at  Tarry  town  stretching  backward  to  Sleepy 
Hollow,  the  broad  water  of  the  Tappan  Zee,  the  airy  heights  of 
the  summer  Kaatskill,  were  mere  landscape,  pleasing  scenery  only, 
until  Irving  suffused  them  with  the  rosy  light  of  story  and  gave 
them  the  human  association  which  is  the  crowning  charm  of  land- 
scape." —  George  William  Curtis. 

Irving  seems  to  have  regarded  the  History  of  New 
York  simply  as  a  jeu  d*  esprit,  which  was  in  no  way  an 
introduction  to  a  literary  career,  and  for  nine  years  he 
produced  very  little.  But  the  failure  of  the  mercantile 
house  in  which  his  brothers  were  large  shareholders 
having  left  him  at  the  age  of  thirty-six  in  London  with- 
out apparent  means  of  support,  he  immediately  took  up 
his  neglected  pen.  The  first  number  of  The  Sketch  Book, 
which  was  written  in  England,  was  published  in  Amer- 
ica in  1819.  It  contained  six  sketches,  among  which 
was  the  immortal  "  Rip  Van  Winkle."  American  critics 


118  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

hailed  the  book  with  extravagant  praise.  The  second 
and  third  numbers  appeared  in  rapid  succession.  Upon 
the  recommendation  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  the  English 
publisher  Murray  was  induced  to  undertake  an  edition. 
Its  success  was  instantaneous.  The  author  became  the 
literary  "lion  "  of  the  day.  Lockhart  declared  in  Black- 
wood  that  "  Mr.  Washington  Irving  is  one  of  our  first 
favorites  among  the  English  writers  of  this  age,  and  he 
is  not  a  bit  the  less  so  for  being  born  in  America." 
Byron  pronounced  The  Broken  Heart  "  one  of  the  finest 
things  ever  written  on  earth." 

The  Sketch  Book  contains  some  of  Irving's  most 
dainty  work.  Four,  at  least,  of  the  sketches  will  endure 
as  long  as  does  the  language.  "  Rip  Van  Winkle  "  and 
"  The  Legend  of  Sleepy  Hollow  "  have  made  the  High- 
lands of  the  Hudson  classic  ground,  and  have  added  two 
distinct  characters  to  the  literature  of  the  world.  The 
paper  on  "  Stratford  on  Avon  "  has  thrown  a  new  spell 
over  the  birthplace  of  Shakespeare,  and  no  one  now 
visits  this  memory-haunted  spot  without  Irving's  work 
in  his  satchel.  For  grace  and  pensive  beauty,  the 
"  Westminster  Abbey  "  and  "  The  Angler  "  are  worthy 
to  be  compared  with  the  best  of  Addison  or  Goldsmith. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "  Rip  Van  Winkle,"  "  The  Legend  of 
Sleepy  Hollow,"  "  Stratford  on  Avon."  See  Benson  J.  Lossing's 
The  Romance  of  the  Hudson,  Harper's,  Vol.  LIL,  p.  643. 

Bracebridge  Hall  (1822).  — The  careful  pictures  of 
The  Sketch  Book  had  thrown  a  soft,  poetic  light  over 
English  customs  and  scenes.  To  Irving  the  land  was 
enchanted  ground.  Since  his  childhood  he  had  dreamed 


WASHINGTON  IRVING.  119 

of  it  and  idealized  it.  "  Having  been  born  and  brought 
up  in  a  new  country,"  he  wrote  in  Bracelridge  Hall, 
"  yet  educated  from  infancy  in  the  literature  of  an  old 
one,  my  mind  was  early  fitted  with  historical  and  poeti- 
cal associations  connected  with  places  and  manners  and 
customs  of  Europe ;  but  which  could  rarely  be  applied 
to  those  of  my  own  country."  To  Irving  England  was 
flooded  with  the  mellow  atmosphere  of  romance.  In 
JBracebridge  Hall  he  draws  ideal  pictures  of  English 
country  life,  of  the  old-fashioned  manor  house  and  its 
inmates ;  of  the  beauty,  cheer,  and  joy  of  the  Yuletide ; 
of  St.  Mark's  eve  and  May-day ;  of  "  the  old  landmarks 
of  English  manners ; "  of  the  English  country  gentle- 
man of  the  old  school.  It  was  the  Sir  Roger  de  Coverley 
Papers,  from  a  new  standpoint.  "  Irving  rediscovered 
England ; "  he  opened  a  new  vista ;  he  poured  over  it 
the  same  mellow  light  with  which  he  had  flooded  Sleepy 
Hollow  and  the  dells  of  the  Hudson. 

After  a  winter  at  Paris  and  a  season  at  Dresden,  in 
1824  Irving  was  paid  by  Murray  ,£1500  for  the  manu- 
script of  The  Tales  of  a  Traveller,  but  the  book  was  far 
below  its  predecessors  in  interest  and  in  literary  merit, 
and  was  severely  criticised  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "The  Author,"  "The  Stout  Gentle- 
man," and  "  May-Day,"  from  Bracebridge  Hall. 

2.  The  Period  of  Spanish  Themes  (1826-1832).  —  In 
1826  Irving  received  a  letter  from  Alexander  H.  Everett, 
then  United  States  Minister  at  Madrid,  urging  him  to 
come  to  Spain  at  once  to  undertake  the  translation  of 


120  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Navarrete's  Voyages  of  Columbus,  then  in  press-.  But 
when  once  in  Spain  amid  the  abundant  materials  in  the 
Spanish  Archives,  Irving  abandoned  the  idea  of  the 
translation  and  immediately  began  to  collect  materials 
for  a  new  life  of  the  great  discoverer. 

He  soon  found  himself  in  a  wonderland.  The 
period  of  Spanish  history  covered  by  the  life  of  Colum- 
bus is  full  of  romance.  It  resounds  with  the  clash  of 
arms  and  glitters  with  the  splendor  of  pageants  arid  the 
pomp  of  military  display.  Few  periods  have  been  more 
filled  with  stirring  incidents.  The  Moorish  splendors  of 
Granada,  the  expulsion  of  the  Arabs  after  nearly  eight 
centuries  in  Spain,  the  dreamy  old  Alhambra  refurnished 
for  the  brilliant  court  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  the  In- 
quisition with  its  horrors,  the  discovery  of  a  new  world, 
—  all  this  was  crowded  into  one  reign,  while  back  of  it 
stretched  the  hazy  vista  of  centuries  of  conflict  with  the 
Moors,  almost  the  only  records  of  which  are  vague  tra- 
ditions and  romantic  tales,  embellished  by  all  the  wild 
extravagance  of  the  Oriental  imagination. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  The  Preface  to  The  Conquest  of  Spain. 

The  Life  of  Columbus  was  but  the  starting-point  of 
Irving's  Spanish  investigations.  The  Moorish  chroni- 
cles and  arabesque  legends  of  Spain  were  all  untold, 
and  to  Americans,  at  least,  the  Spanish  landscape  was 
unfamiliar.  So  fully  did  Irving  enter  into  the  spirit  of 
this  period,  and  so  faithfully  did  he  portray  its  scenery 
and  events,  that  he  has  become  a  part  of  the  perennial 
charm  that  clings  to  this  southern  land. 


WASHINGTON  IRVING.  121 

It  was  living's  design,  as  he  tells  us  in  the  preface 
to  his  Mahomet,  to  write  a  series  of  works  Mahomet  and 
"illustrative  of  the  dominion  of  the  Arabs 


in  Spain,"  but  this  purpose  he  never  ac-  Legends  of  the 

'  r      r  e  Conquest  of 

complished.     Although  each  of  his  seven  Spain.  1835. 

~         .  ,    ,       ,          ..,  .      •  ,     T     •,        •  i       Moorish  Chroni- 

Spanish  books  within  its  limits  aims  to  be  des.   1833. 
exhaustive,  there  are  important  historical  ff  Granada** 
epochs   untouched.      The    books    are,   in  1829- 

The  Alhambra. 

reality,  detached  episodes  of  Spanish  his-  1832. 
tory,  some  of  them  historically  accurate,   voyages  of1 
some  of  them  mere  romance.    To  follow  the 
sequence  of  events  one  should  read  them 
in  the  order  designated  at  the  margin.  covery.   issi. 

Mahomet  and  his  Successors,  which  is  generally  re- 
garded as  an  inferior  work,  was  the  last  of  the  series 
in  order  of  production.  It  had  been  projected  while 
Irving  was  first  at  Madrid,  and  had  been  several  times 
revised  and  cast  aside  before  its  final  appearance.  The 
book,  which  recounts  the  rise  and  spread  of  Mohamme- 
danism up  to  the  eve  of  the  Arab  invasion  of  Spain, 
closes  with  the  half  promise  of  a  history  of  the  Moorish 
Conquest  :  "  Whether  it  will  ever  be  our  lot  to  resume 
this  theme,  to  cross  with  the  Moslem  hosts  the  Strait 
of  Hercules,  and  narrate  their  memorable  conquest  of 
Gothic  Spain,  is  one  of  [the]  uncertainties  of  mortal 
life."  The  book  hinted  at  was  never  written.  The 
period  is  represented  only  by  the  Legends  of  the  Con- 
quest of  Spain,  a  collection  of  dim  traditions  of  Don 
Roderick,  "  the  last  of  the  Goths,"  and  of  the  sad  days 
that  followed  his  overthrow.  The  Spaniards  were  either 


122  .  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

annihilated  or  driven  to  the  mountains.  Province  after 
province  fell  before  the  Moors.  The  Moorish  Chronicles 
is  a  record  of  the  campaigns  of  two  kings,  Count  Fernan 
Gonzalez  of  Castile  and  Fernando  III.  of  Leon,  who 
succeeded  for  a  time  in  checking  the  tide  of  invasion. 

The  Conquest  of  Granada.  — 

"Nearly  eight  hundred  years  were  past  and  gone  since  the 
Arabian  invaders  had  sealed  the  perdition  of  Spain.  .  .  .  Since 
that  disastrous  event,  kingdom  after  kingdom  had  been  gradually 
recovered  by  the  Christian  princes,  until  the  single  but  powerful 
territory  of  Granada  alone  remained  under  dominion  of  the 
Moors."  —  Chapter  I. 

It  was  left  for  the  brilliant  reign  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  utterly  to  overthrow  the  Mohammedan  power 
in  Spain.  In  1481  the  ruler  of  Granada  refused  to  pay 
the  tribute.  Ten  years  of  conflict,  as  full  of  heroic 
achievement  and  poetic  incident  as  the  siege  of  ancient 
Troy,  were  necessary  to  reduce  the  Alhambra,  the  last 
Moorish  stronghold.  The  Conquest  of  Granada  seems 
like  fiction.  Although  real  history,  it  is  a  book,  as 
some  one  has  said,  that  a  young  lady  might  read  by 
mistake  for  a  romance. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "  How  Queen  Isabella  Arrived  in 
Camp,"  and  "  The  Surrender  of  Granada." 

The  Alhambra.  — 

"  The  beautiful  Spanish  Sketch  Book."  —  Prescott. 
"  It  has  the  languid  beauty  of  a  Moorish  song." 
«'  The  Alhambra  is  an  ancient  fortress  or  castellated  palace  of 
the  Moorish  kings  of  Granada,  where  they  held  dominion  over  this 
their  boasted  terrestrial  paradise,  and  made  their  last  stand  for 
empire  in  Spain.  ...    It  is  a  Moslem  pile  in  the  midst  of  a  Chris- 


WASHINGTON  IRVING.  123 

tian  land ;  an  oriental  palace  amid  the  Gothic  edifices  of  the  West, 
an  elegant  memento  of  a  brave,  intelligent,  and  graceful  people, 
who  conquered,  ruled,  and  passed  away."  —  The  Alhambra. 

During  the  summer  of  1829,  Irving  for  several  weeks 
took  up  his  residence  in  this  dreamy  old  palace.  He 
wandered  through  its  halls  and  courts  at  all  hours  of 
the  day  and  night.  He  gathered  its  fast-fading  legends 
and  buried  himself  in  its  golden  atmosphere.  The 
Alhambra  was  the  result,  a  book  like  the  Arabian 
Nights,  full  of  the  passion  and  splendor  of  the  Orient. 
In  many  respects  it  is  the  best  of  Irving's  Spanish 
works. 

EEQUIRED  READING.  —  "The  Palace  of  the  Alhambra," 
"Moonlight  on  the  Alhambra,"  and  "The  Legend  of  the  Rose 
of  the  Alhambra." 

The  Life  and  Voyages  of  Columbus,  a  book  upon  which 
Irving  expended  the  unremitting  labor  of  months,  is 
the  most  serious  and  weighty  of  all  the  author's  works 
on  Spanish  themes.  It  has  taken  its  place  as  the  stand- 
ard English  biography  of  Columbus,  a  position  that  it 
will  doubtless  always  retain.  Other  and  more  scholarly 
works  have  been  written  and  Irving's  estimate  of  the 
discoverer  has  been  sharply  criticised,  but  the  book  will 
never  lose  its  hold  on  the  great  mass  of  English  readers. 
The  Spanish  Voyages  of  Discovery  is  but  a  sequel  to  the 
Life  of  Columbus,  recounting  the  steps  taken  by  Spain  to 
gain  her  American  possessions. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "  The  Discovery  of  Land." 

3.  The  Period  of  Western  American  Themes  (1832- 
1846).  —  In  1829  Irving  was  called  from  Spain  to  become 


124  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

the  American  Secretary  of  Legation  at  London,  an  office 
which  he  held  with  credit  for  three  years.  In  1832, 
after  an  absence  of  seventeen  years,  he  returned  to 
America,  where  he  was  received  with  almost  national 
honors.  So  rapidly  had  his  country  developed  that  he 
was  a  stranger  amid  the  scenes  of  his  childhood.  He 
scarcely  recognized  his  native  city.  He  was  like  his 
own  Rip  Van  Winkle.  A  new  life  and  a  new  spirit 
seemed  to  animate  everything.  The  vast  territory  to 
the  westward  that  had  been  terra  incognita  in  his  boy- 
A  TOUT  of  the  hood  was  now  being  rapidly  filled  by  the 
prairies.  1835.  tide  Q£  immigratiOn.  The  frontier  line  was 

Astoria.    1836.  ,,•.•.  -,   .  /. 

ca  tain  Bonne-  now  Devond  the  Mississippi,  and  it  was  fast 
vuie.  1837.  pushing  westward.  He  was  filled  with  a 
desire  to  acquaint  himself  with  his  native  land  which  he 
had  so  long  neglected.  He  "had  a  great  curiosity,"  as 
he  expressed  it,  to  know  and  see  the  wild  life  of  the 
West,  and  accordingly  he  at  once,  with  several  compan- 
ions, made  a  journey  among  the  Indian  agencies  from 
St.  Louis  up  the  banks  of  the  Missouri. 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  For  Irving's  feelings  upon  his  return 
to  America,  see  the  Introduction  to  A  Tour  of  the  Prairies. 

A  Tour  of  the  Prairies,  which  was  the  literary  result 
of  this  journey,  is  the  record  of  a  month's  expedition 
from  Fort  Gibson  up  the  Arkansas  to  near  the  present 
boundary  of  Kansas.  Giving,  as  it  does,  a  faithful  pict- 
ure of  the  West  of  that  day,  it  is  a  valuable  addition 
to  the  all  too  scanty  records  of  a  picturesque  era  in 
our  history.  Edward  Everett,  in  a  review  of  the  book, 
wrote : 


WASHINGTON  IRVING.  125 

"It  is  a  sort  of  sentimental  journey,  a  romantic  excursion,  in 
which  nearly  all  the  elements  of  several  different  kinds  of  writing 
are  beautifully  and  gayly  blended  into  a  production  almost  sui 
generis.  .  .  .  We  thank  him  for  turning  these  poor  barbarous 
steppes  into  classical  land,  and  joining  his  inspiration  to  that  of 
Cooper  in  breathing  life  and  fire  into  a  circle  of  imagery  which 
was  not  known  before  to  exist,  for  the  purposes  of  the  imagination." 

This  book  was  followed  the  next  year  by  Astoria,  a 
history  of  the  fur-trading  settlement  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Columbia  River,  written  at  the  request  of  John 
Jacob  Astor.  In  this  work  Irving  was  assisted  by  his 
nephew,  Pierre  M.  Irving,  who  relieved  the  author  of 
much  of  the  drudgery  of  collecting  materials. 

It  was  while  engaged  in  this  book  that  Irving  met 
at  the  house  of  Mr.  Astor  a  noted  soldier  and  hunter, 
in  whose  stories  he  became  intensely  interested.  The 
outcome  of  this  chance  meeting  was  The  Adventures  of 
Captain  Bonneville,  a  book  of  thrilling  adventure  among 
Indians  and  wild  beasts  in  the  Rocky  Mountains,  with 
accurate  pictures  of  the  frontier  life  of  those  early  days. 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  The  Introductions  to  Astoria  and 
Captain  Bonneville. 

4.  The  Period  of  Biographical  Work  (1846-1859). — 
In  1842  Irving  was  appointed  Minister  to  Spain,  and 
upon  his  return  in  1846  he  settled  down  in  his  rural 
home  at  "  Sunnyside  "  on  the  Hudson  to  spend  the  last 
years  of  his  life.  The  surroundings  and  the  traditions 
of  the  old  Dutch  mansion  which  Irving  remodelled  into 
a  sort  of  American  "  Abbotsford,"  were  given  to  the 
world  in  1855,  in  the  volume  Wolfert's  Roost.  Here 


126  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Irving  produced  three  biographies.  The  Mahomet  has 
been  already  mentioned.  In  1849  he  published  the 
Life  of  Oliver  Goldsmith,  the  most  charming  of  all  his 
biographies,  and  probably  the  best  study  ever  written 
of  the  thriftless,  lovable  poet. 

But  the  book  which  Irving  wished  to  be  the  crowning 
work  of  his  life  was  The  Life  of  Washington.  Upon  it 
he  expended  the  most  faithful  labor,  pushing  so  thor- 
oughly his  investigations  that  few  additional  facts  of 
importance  in  the  life  of  the  great  leader  have  since 
been  discovered.  The  work  was  done  under  great 
difficulties.  Old  age  was  creeping  upon  the  author. 
Toward  the  last  the  work  dragged  painfully,  and  the 
fifth  and  last  volume  appeared  only  a  short  time  before 
the  author's  death.  The  chief  charms  of  the  book  are 
its  clear  and  beautiful  style,  and  its  bright,  breezy 
descriptions.  Although  not  a  biography  of  the  very 
highest  rank,  it  is  in  every  way  worthy  of  its  position 
as  the  standard  life  of  a  remarkable  man  and  the  crown- 
ing work  of  a  brilliant  literary  career. 

living's  Style.  —  (Richardson,  I.,  278-280 ;  Whip- 
pie's  American  Literature  ;  Warner's  Life  of  Irving ; 
Curtis'  Literary  and  Social  Essays.)  Though  gifted 
with  moderate  power  to  create  plots  and  characters, 
Irving  was  pre-eminently  a  story-teller.  He  was  quick 
to  detect  the  literary  possibilities  in  seemingly  unprom- 
ising material,  and  he  could  make  much  from  very 
little,  as  in  his  "  Stout  Gentleman."  His  canvas  was 
never  a  broad  one.  Even  his  longest  histories  are  but 
aggregations  of  brilliantly  told  episodes.  He  delighted 


JAMES  KIRKE  PAULDINO.  127 

in  gentle  themes,  in  the  Indian  Summer  days  of  the 
past.  From  all  his  work  breathes  his  sweet,  gentle 
nature.  His  English  is  pure  and  elegant ;  his  sentences, 
each  of  sparkling  clearness,  ripple  past  like  the  music 
of  a  summer  brook.  His  humor,  at  first  lawless  and 
boisterous,  then  more  subdued  and  delicate  in  his  later 
works,  is  everywhere  present,  but  is  wholly  without 
bitterness. 

His  Character.  — 

"He  ...  was  most  finished,  polished,  easy,  witty,  quiet  and 
socially  the  equal  of  the  most  refined  Europeans.  ...  In  America 
the  love  and  regard  for  Irving  was  a  national  sentiment.  It  seemed 
to  me  during  a  year's  travel  in  the  country,  as  if  no  one  ever  aimed 
a  blow  at  Irving.  All  men  held  their  hands  from  that  harmless, 
friendly  peacemaker.  .  .  .  The  gate  of  his  own  little  charming 
domain  on  the  beautiful  Hudson  River  was  forever  swinging  before 
visitors  who  came  to  him.  ...  He  had  loved  once  in  his  life. 
The  lady  he  loved  died ;  and  he  whom  all  the  world  loved  never 
sought  to  replace  her.  I  can't  say  how  much  the  thought  of  that 
fidelity  has  touched  me.  Does  not  the  very  cheerfulness  of  his 
after  life  add  to  the  pathos  of  that  untold  story?" — William 
Makepeace  Thackeray. 

Irving  died  at  "Sunnyside,"  Nov.  28,  1859,  and  was 
buried  on  a  beautiful  Indian  Summer  day,  near  the 
Sleepy  Hollow  which  he  had  made  immortal. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Longfellow's  "In  the  Churchyard  at 
Tarry  town,"  Lowell's  "  Fable  for  Critics." 

JAMES  KIEKE  PAULDING  (1779-1860). 

Life  (Literary  Life  of  J.  K.  Paulding,  by  his  son, 
William  Irving  Paulding.  See  also  Irving's  Life  of 
Irving*). 


128  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Closely  associated  with  the  name  of  Washington 
Irving  is  that  of  his  brother-in-law  and  early  literary 
The  Dutch-  partner,  James  K.  Paulding.  Although 

man's  Fireside.    the   early   WQrk   Qf    thege   authors?   as   Seen 

Westward  Ho!    in   Salmagundi,    was   almost   identical   in 

1832.  9 

Life  of  Wash-  style  and  spirit,  and  although  their  choice 
z%e°0}e?  Conti-  °^  literary  themes  shows  many  striking 
nentai.  1846.  coincidences,  there  was,  nevertheless,  lit- 

The  Puritan  ,"'.'., 

and  his  Daugh-  tie  similarity  between  the  two.      Unlike 

ter.    1849.  .  J 

Irving,  Paulding  never  outgrew  Salma- 
gundi. His  humor  is  always  boisterous,  never  chaste 
and  sensitive.  Often  it  is  crude  and  caustic,  leaving 
behind  it  a  rankling  wound.  The  artistic  sense,  the 
delicate  touch,  the  tender  sympathy  which  made  "  Rip 
Van  Winkle  "  immortal,  are  too  often  lacking  in  The 
Dutchman's  Fireside,  and,  in  spite  of  its  humor  and  its 
pathos,  the  book  is  forgotten. 

Paulding's  life  was  one  of  ceaseless  activity.  His 
published  volumes,  which  number  almost  as  many  as 
Irving's,  consist  of  novels,  short  stories,  sketches,  sat- 
ires, parodies,  burlesques,  political  works,  poems,  and  an 
excellent  Life  of  George  Washington.  Like  Irving,  he 
delighted  in  broad  pictures  of  the  old  Dutch  settlers. 
In  some  of  his  sketches  his  humor  is  as  rollicking  and 
as  uncontrolled  as  Irving's  in  The  History  of  New  York. 
His  Lay  of  the  Scottish  Fiddle  (1813),  a  clever  parody 
of  Scott's  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel  (1805),  then  at  the 
height  of  its  popularity,  and  his  novel  Koningsmarke 
(1823),  a  burlesque  upon  the  Indian  of  Cooper's  novel 
The  Pioneers^  are  characteristic  productions. 


NATHANIEL  PARKER   WILLIS.  129 

Paulding's  best  work  is  his  novel  The  Dutchman's 
Fireside. 

"It  is  a  genuine,  life-like  story,  full  of  stirring  incidents,  of 
picturesque  scenes,  and  striking  characters,  for  which  the  author's 
early  experiences  had  furnished  the  abundant  materials.  The 
amiable  and  whimsical  peculiarities  of  the  Dutch  settlers,  the 
darker  tints  of  Indian  character,  and  the  vicissitudes  of  frontier 
life,  have  rarely  been  more  powerfully  sketched."  —  Underwood. 

The  descriptions  of  natural  scenery  are  drawn  with 
loving  care.  The  author  wields  a  poet's  pen  when  he 
writes  of  the  springtime,  the  pathless  woods,  and  the 
sparkling  Hudson. 

During  the  administration  of  Van  Buren,  Paulding 
was  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  His  political  views  are 
well  known.  In  all  things  intensely  conservative,  he 
defended  even  slavery,  strengthening  his  position  by 
publishing,  in  1836,  a  treatise  entitled  Slavery  in  the 
United  States. 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  The  Dutchman's  Fireside. 

NATHANIEL  PARKER  WILLIS  (1806-1867). 

"  No  other  American  author  has  represented  with  equal  vivacity 
and  truth  the  manners  of  the  age."  —  Thackeray. 

Life  (by  Henry  A.  Beers,  in  American  Men  of  Letters 
Series.  See  also  Goodrich's  Recollections  of  a  Lifetime. 
The  collected  writings  of  Willis  have  been 

,     .  .  Poems. 

issued,  in  thirteen  volumes,  by  the  Scrib-  Pendiungs  by 
ners). 

Though    of    New    England    parentage, 
born  in  Portland,  Maine,  only   one   year  Met- 

i     »          T  -  ,,  .  Paul  Fane,  a 

before  Longfellow,  and  receiving  his  edu-  novel. 


130  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

cation  at  Yale  College,  Willis  belongs  with  "The 
Knickerbockers,"  that  little  group  of  writers  that  for 
a  long  time  made  New  York  the  literary  capital  of 
America.  Few  authors  ever  started  in  life  with 
greater  promise.  While  yet  an  undergraduate  at  Yale 
he  achieved  a  widespread  literary  fame  with  the  series 
of  Scripture  poems,  which,  in  spite  of  Lowell's  joke 
about  "  inspiration  and  water,"  are  their  author's  best 
claim  to  remembrance  as  a  poet.  From  this  time 
until  the  rise  of  Longfellow  and  the  New  England 
writers,  he  enjoyed  the  distinction  of  being  the  most 
popular  American  poet. 

Encouraged  by  his  poetic  successes,  Willis,  after  leav- 
ing college,  went  to  New  York,  where,  in  1828,  he 
became,  with  George  P.  Morris,  the  song  writer,  associ- 
ate editor  of  The  New  York  Mirror.  Two  years  later, 
with  five  hundred  dollars  in  his  pocket  and  the  promise 
of  ten  dollars  for  every  letter  he  might  write  to  The 
Mirror,  Willis,  then  in  his  twenty-fourth  year,  started 
for  Europe.  In  Paris  he  became  for  a  time  an  attachS 
to  the  American  Legation,  an  honor  which  was  of  great 
service,  since  it  admitted  him  freely  to  the  best  society 
of  the  capital.  After  a  prolonged  journey  through 
Southern  Europe,  Turkey,  and  parts  of  Asia  Minor,  he 
returned  to  London,  where,  in  1835,  he  republished  his 
letters  to  The  Mirror  in  a  three  volume  edition  under 
the  title  Pencilling^  by  the  Way.  The  popularity  of 
the  book  was  immediate.  Although  its  personalities 
made  many  bitter  enemies,  it  was  on  the  whole  extrava- 
gantly praised  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. 


NATHANIEL  PARKER   WILLIS.  131 

"  At  this  day  it  has  something  of  the  interest  of  a  histrionic 
performance,  which  is  highly  comic  to  one  who  has  been  behind 
the  scenes.  Here  was  a  young  American,  rubbing  along  through 
Europe  on  the  slenderest  resources,  eking  out  his  weekly  revenue 
by  an  occasional  poem  or  story,  but  always  in  mortal  fear  of  com- 
ing to  the  bottom  of  his  purse,  and  all  the  time  he  wrote  in  the 
tone  and  style  of  a  young  prince,  conveying  the  impression  that 
castles  and  palaces,  chariots  and  horses,  and  all  the  splendors  of 
aristocratic  life,  were  just  as  familiar  to  him  as  the  air  he  breathed. 
.  .  .  He  saw  the  outside  of  its  gay  and  splendid  life,  and  this 
he  described  in  his  Pencillings,  with  a  vividness  and  grace  which 
have  rarely  been  equalled.  .  .  .  He  was  under  a  spell  which 
blinded  him  to  the  true  nature  of  what  he  looked  upon  and  caused 
him  to  give  a  report  of  it  which  has  misled  in  some  degree  the 
American  people  ever  since."  —  James  Parton. 

Willis  returned  to  America  in  1837,  and,  with  his 
wife,  whom  he  had  married  in  England,  lived  for  several 
years  at  "  Glenmary  "  on  the  Susquehanna  near  Owego, 
New  York.  In  1846,  after  establishing  with  Morris  The 
Home  Journal,  a  graceful  society  paper,  having  disposed 
of  his  Owego  home,  he  settled  down  to  pass  the  rest  of 
his  life  at  his  quiet  country  residence  "  Idlewild,"  on 
the  Hudson.  During  his  last  years  his  powers  were 
much  impaired  by  an  incurable  malady,  which  rendered 
imperative  frequent  trips  to  milder  climates,  but  this 
did  not  stop  his  tireless  literary  production. 

His  Literary  Style.  —  (Lowell's  Fable  for  Critics; 
Poe's  Literati;  Beers'  Life  of  Willis;  Richardson,  II.; 
Whipple's  Essays  and  Reviews,  I. ;  Tuckerman's  Ameri- 
can Literature?)  The  publications  of  N.  P.  Willis, 
which  number  nearly  thirty  titles,  cover  an  exceedingly 
wide  literary  range.  They  include  books  of  travel, 
journals,  letters,  sketches,  dramas,  poetry,  biography, 


132  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

criticism,  ephemeral  jottings,  and  one  novel.  The 
greater  number  of  his  books  are  collections  of  miscel- 
laneous contributions  to  The  Journal  and  other  maga- 
zines. 

In  the  words  of  George  Ticknor  Curtis,  Willis  was 
the  master  of  "  a  marvellously  easy,  graceful,  half-flip- 
pant and  wholly  enjoyable  style  of  prose  writing."  Poe 
declared  that  "  as  a  writer  of  sketches,  properly  called, 
Mr.  Willis  is  unequalled.  Sketches,  especially  of 
society,  are  his  forte."  The  word  "  jaunty  "  has  been 
overworked  in  connection  with  Willis,  yet  no  word 
sums  up  more  completely  his  personality.  His  greatest 
literary  faults  are  his  tendencies  to  over  ornament  and 
his  fondness  for  superficial  glitter. 

"  His  prose  has  a  natural  grace  of  its  own 
And  enough  of  it  too,  if  he'd  let  it  alone  ; 
But  he  twitches  and  jerks  so,  one  fairly  gets  tired 
And  is  forced  to  forgive  where  one  might  have  admired ; 
Yet  whenever  it  slips  away  free  and  unlaced 
It  runs  like  a  stream  with  a  musical  waste, 
And  gurgles  along  with  the  liquidest  sweep  — 
"Us  not  deep  as  a  river,  but  who'd  have  it  deep  ?  " 

—  A  Fable  for  Critics. 

His  poems,  written  in  smooth  blank  verse,  are  simple 
and  impressive,  often  pathetic.  The  most  popular  of 
his  Scriptural  poems  was  "  Absalom " ;  the  best  of  his 
secular  poems  are  "  Unseen  Spirits,"  greatly  admired  by 
Foe,  and  the  "  Belfry  Pigeon." 

Although  nearly  all  of  his  writings  were  of  an  ephem- 
eral nature,  no  author  ever  wrote  with  more  painstaking 
care  than  Willis. 


NATHANIEL  PARKER    WILLIS.  133 

"  He  bestowed  upon  everything  he  did,  even  upon  slight  and 
transient  paragraphs,  the  most  careful  labor,  making  endless  eras- 
ures and  emendations.  On  an  average  he  erased  one  line  out  of 
every  three  that  he  wrote,  and  on  one  page  of  his  editorial  writing 
there  were  but  three  lines  left  unaltered."  —  James  Parton. 

The  author's  best  work  is  contained  in  Pencilling^  by 
the  Way  and  in  the  thoughtful  Letters  from  Under  a 
Bridge,  so  highly  praised  by  Lowell.  It  was  Willis' 
father,  Nathaniel  Willis,  who,  in  1827,  established  in 
Boston  the  well-known  Youth's  Companion. 

REQUIRED   READING.  —  "Unseen    Spirits,"    "The  Widow   of 
Selections  from  Pencillings  by  the  Way. 


IX. 

THE  NOVELISTS. 

The  Perspective  of  American  History.  —  Although  in 
England  the  first  quarter  of  the  Nineteenth  Century 
1767-1849  was  marked.  by  the  appearance  of  a  most 

Maria  Edge-        brilliant  school  of    novelists,  in  America 

worth. 

1771-1832.  the   six   romances    of    Charles    Brockden 

1775-1817.  Brown  continued  to  stand  alone  as  repre- 

^°e^ten'       sentatives  of  our  imaginative  prose.    The 

1  i  T  D~-loOU. 

Jane  Porter.        treatment  by  British  critics  of  American 
Samuel  Lover,     books  had  been  little  short  of  brutal.     A 


deadly   provincialism   and   a   firmly  fixed 
ford-  idea  that  America  was  barren  of  possibili- 

ties of  romance,  had  put  a  bann  on  all  attempts  at 
fiction.  It  was  not  until  the  century  was  in  its  third 
decade  that  a  discovery  was  made  that  rendered  a  dis- 
tinctively American  novel  possible.  This  discovery, 
which,  once  pointed  out,  was  obvious  enough,  was  simply 
the  fact  that  our  Colonial  and  Revolutionary  periods 
seem  much  farther  away  than  they  really  are.  In  the 
words  of  Cooper  : 

"  When  the  mind  reverts  to  the  earliest  days  of  Colonial  history, 
the  period  seems  remote  and  obscure,  the  thousand  changes  that 
thicken  along  the  links  of  recollections,  throwing  back  the  origin 
of  the  Nation  to  a  day  so  distant  as  seemingly  to  reach  the  mists 
of  time,  and  yet  four  lives  of  ordinary  duration  would  suffice  to 

134 


THE  NOVELISTS.  135 

transmit  from  mouth  to  mouth,  in  the  form  of  tradition,  all  that 
civilized  man  has  achieved  within  the  limits  of  the  Republic."  — 
The  Pathfnder. 

It  is  this  fact  alone  that  has  rendered  a  distinctively 
American  romance  possible.  Without  this  even  Haw- 
thorne would  have  been  driven  to  seek  foreign  themes. 

Although  Cooper  was  not  the  first  to  recognize  this 
possibility  for  American  romance,  he  was,  nevertheless, 
the  first  completely  to  demonstrate  it  to  the  world. 
After  he  had  produced  The  Spy,  The  Pioneers,  and  The 
Pilot,  there  was  no  one  who  did  not  realize  that  a  vast 
empire  full  of  untold  possibilities  had  been  added  to  the 
realm  of  fiction. 


JAMES  FENIMORE  COOPER  (1789-1851). 

"  The  first  American  author  to  carry  our  flag  outside  the  limits  of 
our  language."  —  Brander  Matthews. 

Life  (in  consequence  of  Cooper's  dying  request  to 
his  family,  no  authorized  biography  has  ever  been 
attempted.  T.  R.  Lounsbury's  admirable  study  of 
Cooper  in  the  American  Men  of  Letters  Series  is,  how- 
ever, a  scholarly  and  accurate  summing  up  of  his  life- 
work  and  character.  The  introductions  contributed 
by  the  author's  daughter,  Susan  Fenimore  Cooper,  to 
the  "Sea  Tales,"  and  "Leather-Stocking  Tales";  A 
G-lance  Backward  by  the  same  writer  in  the  Atlantic 
Monthly  for  February,  1887,  and  T.  S.  Livermore's 
History  of  Cooperstown,  contain  much  valuable  infor- 
mation). 


136  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Cooper  was  born  in  Burlington,  New  Jersey,  Sept.  15, 
1789. 

"  In  1785  the  author's  father,  who  had  extensive  tracts  of  land 
in  this  wilderness  [about  Otsego  Lake,  New  York] ,  arrived  with 
a  party  of  surveyors.  ...  At  the  commencement  of  the  follow- 
ing year  the  settlement  began.  .  .  .  The  author  was  brought  an 
infant  into  this  valley  [Nov.  10,  1790]  and  all  his  first  impres- 
sions were  here  obtained."  —  Introduction  to  The  Pioneers. 

The  Cooperstown  of  this  early  day  can  easily  be 
pictured  after  reading  The  Pioneers,  which,  although 
fictitious  in  its  events  and  characters,  is  a  minute  and 
loving  study  of  the  surroundings  of  its  author's  boy- 
hood. The  wild  beauty  of  the  forest-bound  lake,  the 
vast  forest  stretching  for  leagues  into  the  unknown, 
mysterious  west,  the  picturesque  frontier  population,  the 
vanishing  Indian,  the  still-abundant  wild  game,  —  all 
these  made  deep  impressions  upon  the  susceptible  mind 
of  the.  boy. 

In  1802,  when  a  mere  lad  of  thirteen,  Cooper  was 
sent  to  Yale  College.  Three  years  later,  with  his  father's 
consent,  he  left  college  to  go  to  sea.  His  ambition  was 
to  join  the  navy,  but  since  practical  seamanship  was 
demanded  as  a  prerequisite,  he  immediately  shipped  in 
a  merchant  vessel  before  the  mast.  A  rough  voyage  of 
a  year's  duration  followed,  to  London  and  Cowes,  on  the 
Mediterranean,  and  back  again  to  New  York.  He  then 
enlisted  in  the  United  States  Navy,  where  he  served  with 
credit  for  nearly  three  years.  In  1811  his  marriage, 
which  was  a  most  happy  one,  closed  the  first  period  of 
his  life.  His  literary  career,  which  now  opened,  may 
be  divided  into  four  distinct  periods. 


THE  NOVELISTS.  137 


1.    The  First  Creative  Period  (1820-1830). 

The  story  of  Cooper's  first  novel  has  been  often  told. 
He  had  been  reading  one  of  the  cheap  English  novels 
of   the  time,  when,  throwing  it  down  in  precaution, 
disgust,  he  remarked  to  his  wife  that  he   The  Spy. 

.  .  ,  ,  .         ,»        ,—,,        The  Pioneers. 

could  write   a   better   one   himself.     The   The  Pilot. 
result  was  Precaution,  a  wretchedly  dull  Lionel  Lincoln. 

.      f  _      ,.  ,  .    ,      ,.-         T,     £  .,  The  Last  of  the 

novel  of  English  society  life.     Its  failure  Mohicans. 
was  an  inevitable  one,  for  its  author  was   ™e  ^ajl7le' 

L  fl&  jl6Ct  J\OVCTt 

writing  on  a  subject  of  which  he  knew   The  Weptof 

,       .        .  .,  .  T»    j.  i.-     .c  •       j  Wish-ton- Wish. 

absolutely  nothing.     But  his  friends  were   The  water- 
quick  to  see  that  in  those  parts  where  he    Wltch- 
described  familiar  scenes  he  showed  remarkable  promise. 
He  was  urged  to  try  again  with   a   familiar  subject. 
Accordingly,  in  1821,  he  finished  The  Spy,  a  work  of 
the  first  rank.     Never  was  a  novel  hailed  with  more  en- 
thusiasm.    England,  as  well  as  America,  was  delighted, 
and  Cooper's  fame  was  secure.     The  Spy  was  followed 
the  next  year  by  The  Pioneers,  the  first  of  the  Leather- 
Stocking  series. 

The  anonymous  author  of  Waverley  had  produced 
in  1821  The  Pirate,  a  novel  whose  scenes  are  laid 
partly  on  the  sea.  At  a  dinner  in  New  York,  in  1822, 
the  company  was  nearly  agreed  that  the  unknown 
author  of  the  series,  to  describe  nautical  things  so  accu- 
rately, must  have  been  at  some  time  in  his  life  a  sailor. 
As  Scott,  whose  name  had  been  guessed  by  some  in 
connection  with  the  Waverley  series,  had  never  been 
to  sea,  the  conclusion  was  therefore  inevitable.  Cooper, 


138  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

speaking  from  the  knowledge  of  a  practical  sailor, 
declared  that  the  book  furnished  abundant  signs  of 
being  written  by  a  landsman.  To  prove  his  assertion 
he  proposed  himself  to  write  a  nautical  novel.  The 
result  was  The  Pilot,  the  first  novel  of  the  sea,  a  book 
which  opened  up  a  vast  literary  field  before  unknown. 
Cooper,  now  fairly  embarked  on  the  sea  of  literature, 
continued  to  write  novel  after  novel  at  the  rate  of  one 
a  year. 

When,  in  June,  1826,  Cooper  sailed  with  his  family 
for  Europe,  his  popularity  had  reached  its  highest  point. 
He  was  everywhere  in  Europe  and  America  hailed  as 
the  "American  Scott." 

2.     The  Period  of  Controversy  (1830-1840). 

"  Here's  Cooper  who's  written  six  volumes  to  show 
He's  as  good  as  a  lord."  —  Lowell. 

(See  Greeley's  Recollections  of  a  Busy  Life,  and  Par- 
ton's  Life  of  G-reeley,  Ch.  XVIII.)  Commencing  in  1830 
Cooper  entered  upon  a  bitter  decade  of  controversy,  dur- 
ing which  he  produced  no  novels  worthy  of  the  name. 

To  understand  fully  the  position  in  which  the  novel- 
ist soon  found  himself,  one  should  study  the  character 
The  Bravo  o-^  ^e  man-  Intensely  proud,  positive 
The  Heiden-  and  uncompromising  in  his  convictions, 
The  Headsman,  ne  could  brook  no  criticism  or  opposition. 
The  Manikins.  Added  to  this,  he  was  intensely  patriotic. 
£°dundar<  Few  men  have  ever  loved  their  native  land 
Home  as  Found.  more  than  he>  jn  Europe  he  naturally 

History  of  the       r        •  i    ,  i     ,    i  •        •  •          A 

Navy.  found  that  his  views  concerning  America 


THE  NOVELISTS.  139 

were  not  the  prevailing  ones.  The  patronizing  airs  of 
the  English  galled  him.  He  found  things  on  every 
hand  in  the  governments  and  customs  of  Europe  to 
criticise  and  condemn. 

His  next  novels,  The  Bravo,  The  Heidenmaur,  and  The 
Headsman,  all  deal  with  European  scenes.  Two  of 
them,  laid  respectively  in  the  aristocratic  cities  of 
Berne  and  of  Venice,  are  bitter  attacks  on  European 
society.  The  story  is  lost  in  a  mass  of  arguments  and 
denunciation.  He  exalts  republican  institutions;  he 
assails  everything  European  and  tries  to  apply  Ameri- 
can principles  everywhere.  The  results  were  far  from 
what  he  expected.  The  American  press,  so  far  from 
sympathizing  with  him,  rather  criticised  his  position,  — 
a  fact  which  exasperated  him  almost  beyond  bounds. 
It  was  at  this  time  that  he  published  in  rapid  succession 
ten  volumes  of  European  travels  and  The  Manikins,  the 
most  bitter  and  unreasonable  of  novels. 

In  November,  1833,  Cooper  arrived  in  New  York 
after  an  absence  of  seven  years.  His  experience  with 
the  American  press  had  embittered  him  against  his 
countrymen.  His  long  residence  abroad  had  changed 
his  views  so  that  he  soon  began  to  criticise  unsparingly 
American  customs.  Homeward  Bound  and  Home  as 
Found  are  caustic  sermons  to  the  American  people. 
Naturally  he  was  assailed  in  turn.  The  press  all  over 
the  land  attacked  and  ridiculed  him.  His  History  of 
the  Navy,  which  is  really  as  fine  a  thing  in  its  line  as 
was  ever  written,  was  bitterly  criticised  for  its  alleged 
unfairness.  Cooper  knew  no  retreat.  He  began  a 


140  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

stubborn  and  heroic  fight  with  the  whole  American 
people.  He  prosecuted  suit  after  suit  against  some  of 
the  leading  papers  of  America  for  libel,  at  one  time 
having  on  hand  as  many  as  twenty  suits  with  different 
journals.  In  these  he  was  usually  victorious,  but  the 
victories  were  without  spoils  or  glory. 

3.  Second  Creative  Period  (1840-1846). 

During  the  six  years  following  the  publication  of  the 
The  Pathfinder.  History  of  the  Navy,  Cooper  produced  his 
strongest  work.     The  Pathfinder  and  The 


The  Deersiayer.  Deerslayer,  the  crowning  creations  of  his 

The  Two  Admi-  .  ...       -  0  >•  A  i-<o/n 

rah.       genius,  appeared  in  1840  and  1841  re- 


spectively.  Mercedes  of  Castile,  the  story 
Wyandotte.  of  the  memorable  voyage  of  Columbus,  is 
ford8  mg~  not  without  value;  Wyandotte,  a  tedious 
A%horeand  tale  of  the  Revolution,  full  of  religious 
The  Chain-  speculations,  is  a  satire  on  the  Puritans  ; 
Satanstoe.  while  the  last  four  are  tales  of  early  New 
York  history  full  of  life  and  interest. 


4.  Period  of  Decline  (1846-1850). 

*•  Cooper's  fame  would  not  have  been  a  whit  lessened,  if  every  line 
he  wrote  after  The  Chainbearer  had  never  seen  the  light."  —  Louns- 
bury. 

These  novels  are  mere  reproductions  of  what  he  had 
The  Redskins,  done  much  better  before  ;  they  are  full  of 
Jack  Tier.  fierce  jH-nature  and  trite  lectures  to  his 

The  Crater. 

Oak  Openings,    countrymen.      The   Sea  Lions,   a  tale   of 


THE  NOVELISTS.  141 

the  Antarctic  Ocean,  is  excellent  while  it   The  Sea  Lions- 
keeps  on  the  water.     His  last  book,  Ways  Hour, 
of  the  Hour,  is  an  attack  on  the  American  jury  system. 
After  a  most  liberal  selection,  only  fifteen  of  Cooper's 
thirty-two  novels  are  worthy  of  study.     These  may  be 
divided  into  three  groups. 


L   THE  LEATHER-STOCKING  TALES. 

"  A  drama  in  five  acts." 

"  If  anything  from  the  pen  of  the  author  is  at  all  to  outlive  him- 
self, it  is  unquestionably  the  series  of  the  Leather-Stocking  Tales."  — 
Cooper. 

44  Leather-Stocking  is  one  of  the  few  original  characters,  perhaps  the 
only  great  original  character  that  American  fiction  has  added  to  the 
literature  of  the  world."  —  Lounsbury. 

(See  Introduction  to  the  Leather-Stocking  Tales,  and  the  Intro- 
ductions to  each  of  the  five  novels ;  see  also  A  Fable  for  Critics  and 

Brander  Matthews'  Americanisms  and  Briticisms.) 

The  Deerslayer. 

"  The  order  in  which  the  several  books  appeared   The  Last  of  the 
was  essentially  different  from  that  in  which  they  Mohicans. 
would  have  been  presented  to  the  world  had  the   The  f^hfinder. 

regular  course  of  their  incidents  been  consulted.    „ 

°  The  Prairie* 

In  The  Pioneers,  the  first  of  the  series  written,  the 

Leather-Stocking  is  represented  as  already  old,  and  driven  from 
his  early  haunts  in  the  forest  by  the  sound  of  the  axe  and  the 
smoke  of  the  settler.  The  Last  of  the  Mohicans,  the  next  book  in 
the  order  of  publication,  carried  the  reader  back  to  a  much  earlier 
period  in  the  history  of  our  hero,  representing  him  as  middle-aged 
arid  in  the  fullest  vigor  of  manhood.  In  The  Prairie  his  career 
terminates,  and  he  is  laid  in  his  grave.  There  it  was  originally 
the  intention  to  leave  him,  .  .  .  but  a  latent  regard  for  this  char- 
acter induced  the  author  to  resuscitate  him  in  The  Pathfinder,  a 
book  that  was  not  long  after  succeeded  by  The  Deerslayer,  thus 
completing  the  series.  While  the  five  books  .  .  .  were  originally 
published  in  the  order  just  mentioned,  that  of  the  incidents,  inso- 


142  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

much  as  they  are  connected  with  the  career  of  their  principal  char- 
acter, is  ...  very  different.  Taking  the  life  of  the  Leather-Stocking 
as  a  guide,  The  Deerslayer  should  have  been  the  opening  book,  for 
in  that  work  he  is  seen  just  merging  into  manhood ;  to  be  suc- 
ceeded by  The  Last  of 'the  Mohicans,  The  Pathfinder,  The  Pioneers, 
and  The  Prairie."  —  Author's  Introduction. 

It  will  aid  the  memory  to  note  that  this  is  also  the 
alphabetical  order. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  the  world's  idea  of  the 
Indian  has  been  gained  from  the  Leather-Stocking 
Tales,  and  that  the  Indian  as  painted  by  Cooper  will 
be  the  Indian  of  literature  for  all  time.  Whether  Chin- 
gachgook,  Uncas,  and  Hist  were  true  to  nature  in  every 
respect  may  be  open  to  doubt,  but  this  matters  but 
little. 

"  It  is  the  privilege  of  all  writers  of  fiction,  more  particularly 
when  their  works  aspire  to  the  elevation  of  romance,  to  present 
the  beau-ideal  of  their  character  to  the  reader.  This  it  is  which 
constitutes  poetry,  and  to  suppose  that  the  red  man  is  to  be  repre- 
sented only  in  the  squalid  misery,  or  in  the  degraded  moral  state 
that  certainly  more  or  less  belongs  to  his  condition,  is,  we  appre- 
hend, taking  a  very  narrow  view  of  an  author's  privileges.  Such 
criticism  would  have  deprived  the  world  of  even  Homer."  —  Intro- 
duction to  Leather- Stocking  Tales. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  The  Pioneers,  Ch.  III.  and  Ch. 
XXXIII. ;  The  Last  of  the  Mohicans,  Ch.  XVTLI.  and  Ch.  XXX.; 
The  Deerslayer,  Ch.  XVI.;  The  Pathfinder,  Ch.  L;  The  Prairie, 
Ch.  XXXIV. 

H.    TALES  OP  THE  SEA. 

"  No  writer  has  ever  rivalled  him  in  his  wonderful  pictures  of  swift 
vessels  riding  before  the  wind,  chasing  each  other,  sinking  each  other 
in  mad  contests  in  the  midst  of  the  tempest  or  dancing  on  the  summer 
waves.  His  ships  are  drawn  with  the  accuracy  of  a  Flemish  artist." 
—  Eugene  Lawrence. 


THE  NOVELISTS.  143 

Cooper  added  the  ocean  as  well  as  the  forest  to  the 
realm  of  literature.  It  is  hard  in  these  days,  when  novels 
of  the  sea  fairly  flood  the  market,  to  realize  that  the 
origin  of  this  kind  of  literature  was  so  recent.  Captain 
Marryat,  Clark  Russell,  and  all  the  hosts  of  novelists  who 
have  composed  sea-stories  are  but  disciples  of  Cooper. 

The  Pilot  is  doubtless  the  best  of  all  Cooper's  sea- 
stories.     In  it  is  delineated  the  immortal 
Long  Tom  Coffin  of  Nantucket,  one  of  the   The  Red  Rover. 
finest  of  Cooper's  creations.     The  story  of 


the  breathless  chase  of  the  American  frigate   The  Two 
down  the  British  Channel  followed  by  the    wing  and 
whole    English    fleet,  the   wreck    of    the    Winff' 
Ariel,  and  the  death  of  Long  Tom  have  few  superiors 
in  our  language,  in  the   field  of   graphic  description. 
The  plot  of  the  novel  is  laid  in  Revolutionary  times 
and  the  "Pilot"  turns  out  to  be  the  famous  seaman, 
Paul  Jones.     The  Two  Admirals  deals  with  the  British 
navy  of  American  Colonial  times,  and  Wing  and  Wing  is 
a  story  of  the  Mediterranean  and  the  adventures  of  a 
French  privateer. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  The  Pilot.    If  only  a  part  can  be  read, 

ch.  xxxn. 

m.    TALES  OP  COLONIAL  AND  REVOLUTIONARY  HISTORY. 

The  wonderful  success  that  greeted  Cooper's  first  real 
novel,  The  Spy,  was  richly  deserved,  for  the  book  con- 
tains some  of  his  strongest  work.  It  is  a  story  of  the 
Revolution,  and  its  leading  character,  Harvey  Birch, 
ranks  with  Natty  Bumppo  and  Long  Tom  Coffin. 


144  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Lionel  Lincoln,  or  the  Leaguer  of  Boston  is  famous  for 

its  graphic  description  of  the  engagement 

Lionel  Lincoln.  at  Concord,  the  running  fight  to  Boston, 

Miles  Wailing-    and  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.     Bancroft, 

ford. 

Afloat  and          ^ne  historian,  once  declared  that  the  last 
Ashore.  wag  ^e  kest  account  of   ^   battle   ever 

Satanstoe. 

written.  Miles  Wallingford,  Afloat  and 
Ashore,  and  Satanstoe  are  descriptions  of  early  Colonial 
life  in  New  York,  the  first  two  being  partly  autobio- 
graphical. The  last  is  a  powerful  novel  fully  equal  to 
some  of  the  Leather-Stocking  series. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  The  Spy,  Chs.  XXXIIL,  XXXIV.; 
Lionel  Lincoln,  describing  the  battles  of  Concord  and  of  Bunker 
Hill. 

Cooper's  Style.  — (Richardson,  II.  287-329;  Brander 
Matthews'  Americanisms  and  Briticisms.  See  also  The 
Fable  for  Critics.)  Cooper  wrote  rapidly  and  carelessly, 
seldom  correcting  his  first  manuscript  dashed  off  in  the 
heat  of  composition.  As  a  result,  the  faults  of  his  style 
are  very  glaring.  His  words  are  ill-chosen,  his  English 
often  slovenly  in  the  extreme.  Many  of  his  novels  are 
without  unity  of  plot  and  action,  running  on  and  on 
like  the  tale  of  a  garrulous  story-teller.  He  seems  to 
have  had  little  idea  of  what  the  next  chapter  of  his 
novel  was  to  contain;  he  often  introduces  new  charac- 
ters near  the  end  of  the  book ;  and  sometimes  he  drags 
in  strange  and  utterly  unnecessary  scenes  with  no 
apparent  reason  whatever.  His  dialogues  are  far  from 
natural ;  his  characters  act  often  without  sufficient 
motive ;  many  of  his  tales  are  sadly  untrue  to  human 


THE  NOVELISTS.  145 

nature;  and  the  lectures  and  sermons  dragged  into  his 
novels  are  just  so  much  dead  weight.  In  addition  to 
all  this  his  "females"  are  shrinking,  trembling  creat- 
ures, without  individuality  or  life,  and  his  juveniles  are 
insipid  to  the  last  degree.  As  Lowell  remarked: 

"  The  women  he  draws,  from  one  model  don't  vary, 
All  sappy  as  maples  and  flat  as  a  prairie." 

But  even  these  faults,  grave  as  they  are,  —  faults  that 
would  condemn  a  lesser  writer  to  oblivion,  —  may  be  over- 
looked when  we  sum  up  Cooper's  excellences.  Where 
he  was  great  was  in  the  portrayal  of  action  and  the 
rush  of  incident.  In  narrative  power  he  has  never  had 
a  superior.  In  his  battle  scenes  and  his  description  of 
storm  and  wreck  one  is  carried  headlong  with  the  narra- 
tive. The  scene  actually  lives  again  and  one  leaves  the 
book  with  a  sense  almost  of  personal  participation  in  the 
stirring  events  recorded  there.  He  had  an  enthusiasm, 
elevated  and  genuine,  for  wild  nature.  His  pictures  of 
the  pathless  forest,  the  solitary  lake,  the  vast  and  lonely 
reaches  of  the  prairie,  are  above  criticism.  Not  only  did 
he  add  a  new  field  to  literature,  but  a  new  character,  — 
perhaps  the  only  one  that  America  has  given  to  fiction. 

"  He  has  drawn  you  one  character,  though,  that  is  new, 
One  wild  flower  he's  plucked  that  is  wet  with  the  dew 
Of  this  fresh  western  world."  —  Lowell. 

(For  an  extreme  picture  of  Cooper's  faults,  see  North 
American  Review,  July,  1895.) 

Cooper's  Character,  owing  to  his  unfortunate  quarrel 
with  his  countrymen  and  the  fact  that,  until  recently, 


146  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

no  life  of  him  was  published,  has  been  greatly  mis- 
understood. It  is  probable  that  no  author  of  equal 
powers  was  ever  personally  more  unpopular  during  his 
life.  But,  like  Swift,  Cooper  always  presented  his 
worst  side  to  the  world.  He  was  too  proud  to  beg 
for  sympathy  though  he  knew  that  his  countrymen 
had  misjudged  him.  He  chose  rather  to  fight  on 
alone  without  truce  or  quarter,  even  if  it  were  with  the 
whole  world. 

"  As  for  myself  I  can  safely  say  that  in  scarce  a  circumstance 
of  my  life,  that  has  brought  me  the  least  under  the  cognizance  of 
the  public,  have  I  ever  been  judged  justly.  In  various  instances 
have  I  been  praised  for  acts  that  were  either  totally  without  any 
merit,  or  at  least  the  particular  merit  imputed  to  them ;  while  I 
have  been  even  persecuted  for  deeds  that  deserved  praise."  —  Miles 
Wallingford. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  no  man  was  ever  kinder  or  more 
sympathetic  than  he.  His  family  life  was  almost  per- 
fect in  its  happiness.  As  to  his  other  characteristics, 
he  possessed,  in  the  words  of  his  biographer,  "  first,  a 
sturdy,  hearty,  robust,  out-door  and  open-air  whole- 
someness  devoid  of  any  trace  of  offence  and  free  from 
all  morbid  taint;  and,  secondly,  an  intense  Americanism, 
— ingrained,  abiding,  and  dominant." 

His  Cosmopolitan  Fame.  —  "Franklin  was  the  earliest  Amer- 
ican who  had  fame  among  foreigners ;  but  his  wide  popularity  was 
due  rather  to  his  achievements  as  a  philosopher,  as  a  physicist,  as 
a  statesman,  than  to  his  labors  as  an  author.  Irving  was  six  years 
older  than  Cooper,  and  his  reputation  was  as  high  in  England  as 
at  home ;  yet  to  this  day  he  is  little  more  than  a  name  to  those  who 
do  not  speak  our  mother  tongue.  But  after  Cooper  had  published 
The  Spy ,  The  Last  of  the  Mohicans,  and  The  Pilot,  his  popularity 


THE  NOVELISTS.  147 

was  cosmopolitan ;  he  was  almost  as  widely  read  in  France,  in  Ger< 
many,  and  in  Italy  as  in  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States. 
Only  one  American  book  has  ever  attained  the  international  success 
of  these  of  Cooper's  —  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,  and  only  one  American 
author  has  since  gained  a  name  at  all  commensurate  with  Cooper's 
abroad  —  Poe.  .  .  .  With  Goethe  and  Schiller,  with  Scott  and 
Byron,  Cooper  was  one  of  the  foreign  forces  which  brought  about 
the  Romanticist  revolt  in  France,  profoundly  affecting  the  litera- 
ture of  all  Latin  countries.  Dumas  owed  almost  as  much  to  Cooper 
as  he  did  to  Scott ;  and  Balzac  said  that  if  Cooper  had  only  drawn 
character  as  well  as  he  painted  the  phenomena  of  nature,  he  would 
have  uttered  the  last  word  of  our  art." — Brander  Matthews. 


COOPER'S  LEGATEES. 
CATHERINE  MARIA  SEDGWICK  (1789-1867). 

Life  (By  Mary  E.  Dewey,  1870.  See  Prescott's  Mis- 
cellanies^). Born  the  same  year  as  Cooper  and  publish- 
ing her  first  novel,  A  New  England  Tale,  one  year  after 
The  Sketch  Book  and  The  Spy,  Miss  Sedgwick  was  the 
first  American  woman  to  achieve  substantial  success 
as  a  novelist.  SUSANNA  ROWSON,  with  her  tearful, 
sentimental  Charlotte  Temple ;  TABITHA  TENNEY,  and 
others  had  achieved  only  a  passing  fame.  When, 
in  1824,  Redwood  appeared,  it  was  immediately  trans- 
lated into  four  European  languages,  the  French  transla- 
tor even  attributing  the  novel  to  Cooper.  Of  the  novels 
written  by  Miss  Sedgwick,  all  of  them  dealing  with  New 
England  life,  Hope  Leslie,  or  Early  Times  in  Massachu- 
setts (1827)  and  The  Linwoods,  or  Sixty  Years  Since  in 
America  (1835)  are  undoubtedly  the  best.  Aside  from 
her  six  novels,  she  produced  nearly  twenty  volumes, 
consisting  of  collected  tales  and  sketches  contributed  to 


148  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

magazines  and  annuals,  biographies,  letters,  sketches  of 
travel,  juveniles,  and  essays  critical  and  moralizing. 
She  contributed  "  Le  Bossu  "  to  the  Tales  of  the  Glauber 
Spa  (1832),  a  series  edited  by  Robert  C.  Sands  and  con- 
tributed to  by  Bryant,  Paulding,  and  William  Legget. 

Although  the  day  of  the  leisurely  two- volume  novel 
has  nearly  passed,  Miss  Sedgwick's  novels  are  still  read- 
able. Her  greatest  defect  is  the  sermonizing  tendency 
of  her  day,  which  filled  her  novels  with  diffuse  and 
tedious  pages.  Her  excellencies  are  the  quiet,  truthful 
pictures  of  her  native  Massachusetts  home  life. 

JOHN  NEAL   (1793-1876). 

"John  NeaPs  forces  are  multitudinous  and  fire  briskly  at  every- 
thing. They  occupy  all  the  province  of  letters  and  are  nearly  useless 
from  being  spread  over  too  much  ground."  —  Whipple. 

Life  (Neal's  Wandering  Recollections,  1869 ;  Lowell's 
Fable  for  Critics  ;  Poe's  Marginalia,  cxxviii.)-  Surely 
Nature  never  committed  a  greater  blunder  than  in 
sending  the  impetuous,  energetic,  worldly  John  Neal 
into  the  quiet  Quaker  family  at  Portland,  Maine. 
But  the  mistake  was  soon  rectified,  the  young  fellow 
being  early  read  out  of  the  society  "  for  knocking,"  as 
he  says,  '4  a  man  head  over  heels,  for  writing  a  tragedy, 
for  paying  a  military  fine,  and  for  desiring  to  be  turned 
out  whether  or  no."  After  a  wandering  career  he  at 
length  settled  down  in  Baltimore,  where  he  formed 
a  commercial  partnership  with  the  poet  Pierpont,  but 
the  firm  failing  soon  after,  he  applied  himself  to  law. 
His  first  novel,  Keep  Cool,  appeared  in  1817,  and  from 


THE  NOVELISTS.  149 

this  time  until  his  death  he  continued  to  pour  out  a 
flood  of  literary  matter.  In  his  own  words  his  publica- 
tions "would  amount  to  a  hundred  octavo  volumes  at 
least,  on  subjects  far  too  numerous  to  mention."  He 
was  connected  with  many  papers  and  magazines  both  in 
America  and  England. 

Although  Poe,  echoing  perhaps  the  sentiment  of  his 
time,  was  "inclined  to  rank  John  Neal  as,  at  all  events, 
second  among  our  men  of  indisputable  genius,"  time  has 
shown  the  falsity  of  this  estimate.  As  a  poet,  Neal  has 
here  and  there  fine  passages,  but  these  could  not  save 
The  Battle  of  Niagara  and  other  poetical  efforts  from 
oblivion.  As  a  novelist  of  American  life,  he  antedated 
Cooper  several  years.  His  best  novels  are  Logan 
(1821),  Seventy-Six,  a  tale  of  the  Revolution  (1822), 
Randolph  (1822),  Rachel  Dyer,  a  tale  of  the  Salem 
witches  (1828),  The  Down-Easters,  and  Ruth  Elder. 
Neal  wrote  with  extreme  rapidity,  none  of  his  works 
occupying  him  more  than  a  month. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  A  Fable  for  Critics.     (Neal.) 

JOHN  PENDLETON  KENNEDY  (1795-1870). 

Life  (by  Henry  T.  Tuckerman ;  Tribute  to  the  Memory 
of  Kennedy,  by  R.  C.  Winthrop,  1870).  During  the  fif- 
teen years  between  1838  and  1853,  among  others  who  held 
the  office  of  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  were  the  American 
authors,  Paulding,  Bancroft,  and  Kennedy.  The  last,  a 
native  of  Baltimore,  a  lawyer  and  a  statesman  with  a 
long  and  honorable  record,  found  time  to  produce  three 


150  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

charming  novels  of  American  life,  —  Swallow  Barn,  a 
Story  of  Rural  Life  in  Virginia  (1832),  Horse-shoe  Rob- 
inson, a  Tale  of  the  Tory  Ascendency  (1835),  and  Rob  of 
the  Bowl  (1838),  a  story  describing  the  province  of 
Maryland  under  the  second  Lord  Baltimore.  His  most 
enduring  work,  however,  is  his  Memoirs  of  the  Life  of 
William  Wirt  (1849).  The  fourth  chapter  of  the 
second  volume  of  Thackeray's  novel,  The  Virginians, 
owes  its  accuracy  of  description  to  the  fact  that  it  was 
written  by  Kennedy. 

Robert  Montgomery  Bird  (1803-1854),  a  native  of  Del- 
aware, was  educated  for  the  medical  profession,  but  soon 
turned  to  literature.  He  first  composed  three  tragedies, 
the  first  of  which,  The  Gladiator,  a  powerful  composition, 
was  widely  popular,  even  becoming  a  favorite  with 
Edwin  Forrest.  Next  appeared  two  novels,  Oalavar,  a 
Tale  of  the  Conquest  of  Mexico  (1834),  and  The  Infidel, 
or  the  Fall  of  Mexico  (1835). 

"  The  author  has  studied  with  great  care  the  costume,  manners, 
and  military  usages  of  the  natives  and  has  done  for  them  what 
Cooper  has  done  for  the  wild  tribes  of  the  North  —  touched  their 
rude  features  with  the  bright  colors  of  a  poetic  fancy."  —  Prescott. 

Bird's  last  literary  work  was  a  series  of  novels  dealing 
with  American  frontier  life,  full  of  startling  adventures 
and  dramatic  situations.  Among  these  the  best  known 
are  The  Hawks  of  Hawk  Hollow,  and  Nick  of  the  Woods, 
or  the  JMenainosay,  a  tragic  story  of  Kentucky  frontier 
life.  For  a  review  of  the  former  see  Poe's  works,  Vol. 
VI.,  205.  These  stories  of  adventure,  which  have  been 
widely  imitated,  are  without  doubt  the  parent  of  the 
modern  dime  novel. 


THE  NOVELISTS.  151 

WILLIAM  GILMORE  SIMMS  (1806-1870). 

Life  (by  William  P.  Trent,  in  American  Men  of  Let* 
ters  Series).  The  first  novelist  of  the  South,  both  as  to 
time  and  rank,  was  a  native  of  Charleston,  South  Caro- 
lina. As  so  many  other  American  authors  have  done, 
he  commenced  life  as  a  law  student,  being  admitted 
to  the  bar  at  the  age  of  twenty-two.  After  a  year  he 
turned  to  journalism,  and  very  soon  he  began  the  literary 
labors  which  in  time  made  him  the  most  voluminous  and 
versatile  of  American  authors.  Besides  producing  as 
many  novels  as  did  Cooper,  he  wrote  the  standard  His- 
tory  of  South  Carolina,  and  the  lives  of  Generals  Marion 
and  Greene,  Captain  John  Smith,  and  the  Chevalier 
Bayard.  He  was  also  the  author  of  some  fourteen 
volumes  of  poems;  he  edited  several  of  Shakespeare's 
plays,  and  contributed  numerous  articles  to  the  peri' 
odicals.  His  published  works  number  over  sixty  titles. 

The  best  of  Simms'  novels  may  be  divided  into  three 
groups.  COLONIAL  ROMANCE:  The  Yemasse  (1835) 
and  The  Oassique  of  KiaivaTi ;  REVOLUTIONARY  RO- 
MANCE: The  Partisan,  a  tale  of  Marion's  men,  Melli- 
champe,  The  Scout,  Katherine  Walton,  The  Forayers, 
Eutaw,  and  Woodcraft;  and  BORDER  ROMANCE:  Guy 
Rivers,  Richard  Hurdis,  Border  Beagles,  Confession, 
Beauchampe,  and  Charlemont. 

Although  Poe,  with  characteristic  partiality,  declared 
that  Simms,  aside  from  Brockden  Brown,  Hawthorne, 
and  Cooper,  was  "immeasurably  the  best  writer  of 
fiction  in  America,"  the  books  of  this  novelist  are  lit 


152  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

tie  read  at  the  present  day.  His  novels  lack  artistic 
finish  and  symmetrical  design.  All  the  worst  defects 
of  Cooper's  work  are  to  be  found  in  them.  He  wrote 
too  rapidly,  and  though  at  times  he  succeeded  in  viv- 
idly and  vigorously  painting  action  and  landscape,  the 
defects  so  far  outweigh  the  beauties  that  few  have 
patience  to  read  more  than  one  of  his  creations. 

Herman  Melville  (1819-1891),  a  native  of  New  York 
City,  made  in  his  eighteenth  year  a  voyage  to  Liver- 
pool and  later,  in  1841,  shipped  before  the  mast  on 
board  a  whaler  bound  for  the  Pacific.  He  cruised  con- 
tinuously for  eighteen  months,  and  so  harshly  were  the 
Bailors  treated  that  while  in  the  harbor  of  Nukahiva, 
one  of  the  Marquesas  Islands,  he  deserted  and  made 
Ms  way  inland.  Here  he  fell  in  with  the  Typees,  a 
wild  race  of  cannibals,  by  whom  he  was  captured, 
having  won  their  confidence,  however,  by  a  fortunate 
ihance,  he  was  kindly  treated  and  after  four  months 
jf  captivity  was  rescued  by  an  Australian  whaler.  Af- 
,er  two  years  more  afloat  Melville,  in  1846,  published 
Typee :  a  Peep  at  Polynesian  Life  during  a  Four  Months' 
Residence  in  a  Valley  of  the  Marquesas.  Among  his 
other  works  are  Omoo  (1847),  Redburn  and  Mardi,  and 
a  Voyage  Thither  (1848),  White  Jacket;  or,  The  World 
in  a  Man-of-War  (1850),  and  Moby  Dick;  or  the  Whale 
(1851). 

"  Until  Richard  H.  Dana  and  Herman  Melville  wrote,  the  com- 
mercial sailor  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  was  without 
representation  in  literature.  .  .  .  They  were  the  first  to  lift  the 
hatch  and  show  the  world  what  passes  in  a  ship's  forecastle ;  how 
men  live  down  in  that  gloomy  cave ;  how  and  what  they  eat  and 


THE  NOVELISTS.  153 

where  they  sleep ;  what  pleasures  they  take ;  what  their  sorrows 
and  wrongs  are ;  how  they  are  used  when  they  quit  their  black 
sea-parlors  in  response  to  the  boatswain's  silver  summons  to  work 
on  deck  by  day  or  by  night.  .  .  .  Melville  wrote  out  of  his  heart 
and  out  of  wide  and  perhaps  bitter  experience ;  he  enlarged  our 
knowledge  of  the  life  of  the  deep  by  adding  many  descriptions  to 
those  which  Dana  had  already  given.  His  *  South  Seaman*  is 
typical.  Dana  sighted  her,  but  Melville  lived  in  her.  His  books 
are  now  but  little  read.  .  .  .  Yet  a  famous  man  he  was  in  those 
far  days  when  every  sea  was  bright  with  the  American  flag,  when 
the  cotton-white  canvas  shone  star-like  on  the  horizon,  when  the 
nasal  laugh  of  the  jolly  Yankee  tar  in  China  found  its  echo  in 
Peru.  Famous  he  was;  now  he  is  neglected;  yet  his  name  and 
works  will  not  die.  He  is  a  great  figure  in  shadow;  but  the 
shadow  is  not  that  of  oblivion." —  W.  Clark  Russell. 


THE  POETS. 

IN  July,  1818,  there  appeared  in  the  North  American 
Review  an  essay  on  American  poetry  from  the  pen  of 
William  Cullen  Bryant,  in  which  he  singled  out  and 
estimated  those  who  up  to  that  time  had  produced 
worthy  verse  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  The  list  is 
singularly  suggestive.  The  only  poets  he  saw  fit  "  to  in- 
terrupt in  their  passage  to  oblivion,"  were  the  Rev.  John 
Adams,  Joseph  Green,  Francis  Hopkinson,  Dr.  Church, 
Freneau ;  the  Connecticut  poets,  Trumbull,  Dwight, 
Barlow,  Humphreys,  and  Hopkins ;  the  youthful  poet 
William  Clifton,  St.  John  Honeywood,  and  Robert  Treat 
Paine.  Of  these  poets,  who  were  the  bright  particular 
representatives  of  American  poetry  almost  at  the  end  of 
the  first  quarter  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  scarcely 
one  is  to-day  more  than  a  mere  name. 

One  style  may  be  said  to  characterize  the  work  of  all 
these  poets.  Bryant,  in  the  essay  mentioned,  denounced 
the  style  of  poetry  then  prevalent,  "as  in  too  many 
instances  tinged  with  a  sickly  and  affected  imitation 
of  the  peculiar  manner  of  the  late  popular  poets  of 
England."  Pope,  with  his  heroic  couplets,  dominated 
American  verse  long  after  the  revolt  of  the  English 
natural  school  had  thrown  off  its  chain. 

The  first  strong,  original  note  in  American  poetry 

Hi 


THE  POETS.  155 

came  from  Bryant.     Although  nurtured  on  the  rhymes 
of   Pope  and  Thomson,  and  writing  his  juvenile  pro- 
ductions in  heroic  couplets,  he  was,  never-  1777_1844 
theless,  the  first  influence  that  helped  to  J^mas  Camp" 
free  our  song  from  the  "  ten-linked  chain."  1788-1824. 
The  publication  of  "  Thanatopsis  "  in  1817,  1779-1852. 


and  of  The  Ages  and  Other  Poems  in  1821, 

marks   an   epoch   in   the    history   of    our  p-  B-  Shelley. 

1795-1821. 
poetry.  John  Keats. 


While  American  verse  was  thus  making 
its  first  feeble  beginnings,  the   firmament 

Inomas  Hood. 

of  English  poetry  was  still  glowing  with  mo-1850. 

^i_     T_  MV      /!••  I^.-^-L  *;t   j      •  William  Words- 

the  brilliant  lights  that  had  given  glory  to  worth. 

the  second  great  creative  period  of  English  g^x^coieridge. 

literature.      In   1821,  the    birth    year  of  m*-i843. 

Robert  Southey. 

American  literature  in  all  its  departments, 
since  it  witnessed  the  production  of  The  Sketch  Book, 
The  Spy,  and  Bryant's  first  volume  of  poems,  Keats  had 
just  finished  his  short  but  brilliant  career,  Shelley  was 
to  follow  him  a  year  later  and  Byron  soon  after,  while 
Wordsworth  and  Coleridge  and  Southey  and  scores 
of  lesser  lights  were  at  the  zenith,  with  Tennyson  on 
the  eastern  horizon. 


WILLIAM  CULLEN  BRYANT  (1794-1878). 

"  Bryant's  writings  transport  us  into  the  depths  of  the  solemn,  prime- 
val forest ;  to  the  shores  of  the  lonely  lake  ;  to  the  banks  of  the  wild, 
nameless  stream  ;  or  the  brow  of  the  rocky  upland  rising  like  a  prom- 
ontory from  amidst  a  wide  ocean  of  foliage ;  while  they  shed  around 
us  the  glories  of  a  climate  fierce  in  its  extremes,  but  splendid  in  all  its 
vicissitudes."  —  Washington  Irving. 


156  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Life  (Parke  Godwin's-  William  Oullen  Bryant,  1883^ 
is  the  standard  life  of  the  poet ;  other  Lives  have  been 

"Thanatopsis."  written  bv  Jolin  Bigelow,  in  The  American 

"The  Ages."  Men  of  Letters  Series,  1890;  by  David  J. 

fowi-Water"  Hill>  in    The    American  Authors  Series, 

pDeath  of  the  1879 ;  and  by  A.  J.  Symington.     See  also 

"  The  Flood  of  George  William  Curtis'  Homes  of  Ameri- 

Years  " 

"The  Voice  of     can  Authors,  1853;  James  Grant  Wilson's 

Autumn.  Bryant  and  his  Friends;  R.  H.  Stoddard's 

Translation  of  ° 

Homes  and  Haunts  of  our  Elder  Poets; 

and  Bryant's  "  Boys  of  my  Boyhood,"  St. 
Nicholas  for  December,  1876). 

Although  the  best  part  of  Bryant's  life-work  was 
connected  with  New  York,  he  belongs  nevertheless  to 
New  England.  Born  in  Cummington,  Massachusetts, 
of  the  old  Mayflower  stock,  he  passed  his  boyhood  and 
early  manhood  amid  the  Berkshire  Hills,  and  his  poems 
are  as  true  to  the  New  England  landscape  and  spirit 
as  are  those  of  Whittier. 

Bryant's  father  was  a  physician  of  good  education  and 
scholarly  habits.  His  home  was  isolated,  and  his  chil- 
dren had  but  few  social  privileges,  but  to  compensate  in 
a  measure  for  this,  he  had  gathered  a  large  library  for  the 
times,  one  in  which  the  English  poets  seem  to  have  been 
largely  represented,  and  in  this  his  family  revelled  dur- 
ing the  long  winter  evenings.  In  the  brief  autobio- 
graphical fragment  given  in  Godwin's  Life  of  Bryant, 
the  poet  tells  remarkable  stories  of  the  precocity  of 
his  family,  but  these  can  easily  be  believed  when  we 
remember  the  poet's  own  early  achievements.  He  pro- 


THE  POETS.  157 

rfuced  excellent  verses  in  his  early  boyhood ;  at  the  age 
of  thirteen  we  find  him  writing  a  satire  on  Jefferson's 
administration,  so  excellent  that  the  public  could  not 
believe  it  the  work  of  a  mere  boy ;  and  at  the  age  of 
seventeen  he  wrote  "  Thanatopsis,"  which  is,  perhaps, 
"  the  highwater  mark  of  American  poetry." 

In  1810  Bryant  entered  the  class  of  1813  in  Williams 
College. 

"I  remained  there  two  terms  only,  but  I  pursued  my  studies 
with  the  intent  to  become  a  student  at  Yale,  for  which  I  prepared 
myself,  intending  to  enter  the  Junior  Class  there.  My  father, 
however,  was  not  able,  as  he  told  me,  to  bear  the  expense.  I  had 
received  an  honorable  dismission  from  Williams  College,  and  was 
much  disappointed  at  being  obliged  to  end  my  college  course  in 
that  way."  — From  a  letter  to  H.  W.  Powers,  1878. 

Bryant  next  turned  his  attention  to  the  law  and  in 
1815  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  The  next  nine  years 
were  quietly  passed  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  in 
the  villages  of  Plainfield  and  Great  Barrington,  Massa- 
chusetts. But  the  poet  was  sadly  out  of  place.  In  his 
poem,  "  Green  River,"  published  at  this  time,  he  com- 
plained of  being 

"  forced  to  drudge  for  the  dregs  of  men, 
And  scrawl  strange  words  with  the  barbarous  pen, 
And  mingle  among  the  jostling  crowd 
Where  the  sons  of  strife  are  subtle  and  loud." 

It  was  a  positive  relief  when,  in  1825,  through  the 
influence  of  friends  which  his  little  volume  of  poems, 
published  in  1821,  had  won  for  him,  he  went  to  New 
York  City  and  devoted  himself  to  literary  work.  Dur- 
ing the  following  year  he  was  made  one  of  the  editors 


158  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

of  the  New  York  Evening  Post,  becoming  soon  after 
editor-in-chief  of  the  paper,  a  position  that  he  held  for 
the  rest  of  his  life  —  a  period  of  over  half  a  century. 

Bryant's  life,  like  that  of  most  men  of  letters,  was 
bare  of  incident.  The  only  variations  from  the  monoto- 
nous life  of  the  city  editor  were  his  six  visits  to  Europe. 
During  the  last  years  of  his  life  he  was  in  almost  con- 
stant demand  as  an  orator  on  great  occasions.  Bryant 
died  in  New  York  City,  June  12,  1878.  On  May  29 
he  had  delivered  an  address  in  Central  Park  at  the 
unveiling  of  the  Mazzini  statue.  It  was  an  exceedingly 
warm  day  and  the  sun  shone  fiercely  down  on  the  un- 
protected head  of  the  poet.  Later  in  the  day,  overcome 
with  dizziness,  he  fell,  striking  his  head  on  a  stone  curb- 
ing, from  the  effects  of  which  blow  he  never  rallied. 

Thanatopsis  (1811).— 

"'Thanatopsis'  alone  would  establish  a  claim  to  genius.'*  — 
Christopher  North. 

Written  "  shortly  after  he  was  withdrawn  from  college,  while 
residing  with  his  parents  at  Cummington  in  the  summer  of  1811, 
and  before  he  had  attained  his  eighteenth  year."  —  Godwin. 

Published  in  North  American  Review,  September,  1817. 

"There  was  no  mistaking  the  quality  of  these  verses.  The 
stamp  of  genius  was  upon  every  line.  No  such  verses  had  been 
made  in  America  before.  They  soon  found  their  way  into  the 
school  books  of  the  country.  They  were  quoted  from  the  pulpit 
and  upon  the  hustings.  Their  gifted  author  had  a  national  fame 
before  he  had  a  vote,  and  in  due  time  *  Thanatopsis '  took  the  place 
which  it  still  retains  among  the  masterpieces  of  English  didactic 
poetry."  —  Godwin's  Life  of  Bryant. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "  Thanatopsis."  The  best  study  of  Bry- 
ant's poetry  for  classroom  use  is  Alden's  Studies  in  Bryant. 


THE  POETS.  159 

To  a  Waterfowl  (1819).— 

"  When  he  journeyed  on  foot  over  the  hills  to  Plainfield  on  the 
15th  of  December,  1816,  to  see  what  inducements  it  offered  him  to 
commence  there  the  practice  of  the  profession  to  which  he  had 
just  been  licensed,  he  says  in  one  of  his  letters  that  he  felt  *  very 
forlorn  and  desolate.'  The  world  seemed  to  grow  bigger  and 
darker  as  he  ascended,  and  his  future  more  uncertain  and  desper- 
ate. The  sun  had  already  set,  leaving  behind  it  one  of  those 
brilliant  seas  of  chrysolite  and  opal  which  often  flood  the  New 
England  skies,  and,  while  pausing  to  contemplate  the  rosy  splendor 
with  rapt  admiration,  a  solitary  bird  made  its  winged  way  along 
the  illuminated  horizon.  He  watched  the  lone  wanderer  until  it 
was  lost  in  the  distance.  He  then  went  on  with  new  strength  and 
courage.  When  he  reached  the  house  where  he  was  to  stop  for  the 
night,  he  immediately  sat  down  and  wrote  the  lines,  "  To  a  Water- 
fowl," the  concluding  verse  of  which  will  perpetuate  to  future  ages 
the  lesson  in  faith  which  the  scene  had  impressed  upon  him. 

"  *  He  who,  from  zone  to  zone, 

Guides  through  the  boundless  sky  thy  certain  flight, 
In  the  long  way  that  I  must  tread  alone, 
Will  lead  my  steps  aright.' " 

— John  Bigelow's  Life  of  Bryant. 
REQUIRED  READING. —  "To  a  Waterfowl." 

The  Ages  (1821).  —  The  matchless  poems  just  men- 
tioned at  once  placed  Bryant  in  the  very  front  rank  of 
American  poets,  a  position  that  he  has  held  until  the 
present  day.  In  1821  he  was  invited  to  deliver  the 
annual  poem  at  Harvard,  and  he  responded  with 
the  magnificent  production,  "The  Ages,"  which,  at  the 
earnest  request  of  his  friends,  he  published,  together 
with  seven  others,  among  which  were  "  Thanatopsis," 
"To  a  Waterfowl,"  "Inscription  for  the  Entrance  of 
a  Wood,"  "  The  Yellow  Violet,"  and  "  Green  River." 


160  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Poems  of  Nature.  —  Like  Wordsworth,  Bryant  loved 
nature  intensely,  and  the  greater  number  of  his  poems 
were  inspired  by  this  love*  He  caught  the  poetry  of 
the  Indian  Summer  as  Irving  did  its  romance.  He  is 
the  poet  of  the  New  England  autumn*  No  one  has 
so  well  pictured  its  brilliant  foliage,  its  fading  flowers, 
its  dreamy,  melancholy  days.  "  Autumn  Woods,"  "  No- 
vember," "The  Death  of  the  Flowers,"  "The  Voice  of 
Autumn,"  and  "  October  "  are  poems  that  have  become 
a  part  of  our  English  language.  He  is  also  the  poet  of 
the  New  England  wild  flowers.  The  yellow  violet,  the 
fringed  gentian,  and  the  painted  cup  are  as  inseparably 
connected  with  his  name  as  the  rhodora  is  with  Emer- 
son's, the  wild  honeysuckle  with  Freneau's,  the  dande- 
lion with  Lowell's,  the  goldenrod  with  Whittier's,  and 
the  flower-de-luce  with  Longfellow's.  No  poet  has  sung 
better  than  he  of  the  wild  flowers,  the  solemn  forest, 
and  the  boundless  prairie. 

FOR  CLASS  READING.  —  The  five  autumn  poems  mentioned 
above,  also  "The  Yellow  Violet,"  "The  Fringed  Gentian,"  "The 
Painted  Cup,"  "  The  Prairies,"  "  The  Forest  Hymn." 

His  Uniform  Excellence.  —  No  poet  has  written  so  few 
inferior  productions  as  Bryant.  Hardly  a  line  of  all 
that  he  produced  could  be  spared.  Conscientious  and 
painstaking,  he  was  his  own  severest  critic.  His  works 
can  be  judged  by  the  severest  standards  and  not  fall 
short.  He  did  not  succeed  by  accident;  he  succeeded 
by  fine  poetic  genius  and  patient  hard  work.  He  wrote 
no  long  poem.  To  pick  here  and  there  from  his  poems 
as  a  sample  of  his  powers  is  taking  an  unfair  advantage, 


THE  POETS.  161 

To  understand  the  poetic  work  of  Bryant  one  must  read 
all  that  he  has  written. 

The  Translation  of  Homer  (1871-1872).— 

"  One  of  the  finest  specimens  of  pure  Saxon  English  in  our  lan- 
guage. "  —  Bigelow. 

The  translation  of  Homer's  Iliad  and  Odyssey  occupied 
the  last  years  of  Bryant's  life.  It  has  been  observed  that 
"  Thanatopsis  "  is  the  most  remarkable  work  ever  done  by 
a  youth  of  eighteen ;  in  like  manner  it  may  be  said  that 
the  translation  of  Homer  is  the  most  remarkable  work 
ever  done  by  a  man  of  eighty.  It  immediately  became 
the  standard  English  translation  of  the  great  epic  poet. 
The  old  Greek  had  never  been  brought  so  near  to  read- 
ers of  English. 

REQUIRED  READING. — "  Ulysses  among  the  Phseacians."  Odys- 
sey, Book  V. 

Bryant's  Style.  —  (Stedman,  iii ;  Richardson,  II., 
35-49 ;  Whipple's  Literature  and  Life ;  John  Wilson's 
Essays :  Critical  and  Imaginative ;  Bayard  Taylor's 
Critical  Essays  and  Literary  Notes;  Deshler's  After- 
noons with  the  Poets  [Bryant's  Sonnets] ;  George 
William  Curtis'  Address  before  the  New  York  His- 
torical Society ;  Lowell's  Fable  for  Critics.) 

Bryant's  poems  are  cold  and  stately.  There  is  in 
them  none  of  the  passion  and  fire  that  characterize 
much  of  the  work  of  Whittier  and  Longfellow  and 
Poe.  Everything  in  his  verse  is  classically  moulded, 
like  a  Greek  frieze  carved  from  cold  marble,  yet  fault- 
less in  its  art.  He  was  a  perfect  master  of  English,  and 


162  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

no  American  has  better  understood  the  technique  of  his 
art.  His  blank  verse  has  never  been  surpassed;  stately 
and  melodious,  it  reminds  one  of  Milton. 

His  Character.  — "  There  is  probably  no  eminent  man  in  the 
country  upon  whose  life  and  genius  and  career  the  verdict  of  his 
fellow-citizens  would  be  more  immediate  and  unanimous.  His 
character  and  life  had  a  simplicity  and  austerity  of  outline  that 
had  become  universally  familiar,  like  a  neighboring  mountain  or 
the  sea.  His  convictions  were  very  strong,  and  his  temper  uncom- 
promising ;  he  was  independent  beyond  most  Americans.  He  was 
an  editor  and  a  partisan ;  but  he  held  politics  and  all  other  things 
subordinate  to  the  truth  and  the  common  welfare,  and  his  earnest- 
ness and  sincerity  and  freedom  from  selfish  ends  took  the  sting  of 
personality  from  his  opposition,  and  constantly  placated  all  who, 
like  him,  sought  lofty  and  virtuous  objects.  .  .  .  This  same  bent 
of  nature  showed  itself  in  the  character  of  his  verse.  His  poetry 
is  intensely  and  distinctively  American.  He  was  a  man  of  schol- 
arly accomplishment,  familiar  with  other  languages  and  literature. 
But  there  is  no  tone  or  taste  of  anything  not  peculiarly  American 
in  his  poetry.  It  is  as  characteristic  as  the  wine  of  the  Catawba 
grape,  and  could  have  been  written  only  in  America  by  an  Ameri- 
can naturally  sensitive  to  whatever  is  most  distinctively  American." 
—  George  William  Curtis. 

REQUIRED  READIXG.  —  Poems  on  Bryant's  Seventieth  Birth- 
day by  Holmes,  Whittier,  and  Lowell. 

"The Dawn  of  Imagination."  —  The  imaginative  ele- 
ment was  slow  to  enter  American  literature.  The  Puri- 
tan mind  dealt  with  facts,  not  fancies.  Wild  vagaries  like 
the  Faerie  Queene  and  The  Midsummer  Night's  Dream 
held  no  beauties  for  him  that  could  enjoy  The  Day  of 
Doom.  The  ponderous  Revolutionary  poets  kept  their 
feet  firmly  on  the  solid  earth,  while  Bryant,  dignified 
and  majestic,  never  attempted  the  light  paces  of  fancy. 


THE  POETS.  163 

The  "dawn  of  imagination,"  as  Professor  Richardson 
terms  it,  came  with  Drake  and  Halleck. 


JOSEPH  RODMAN-  DRAKE  (1795-1820). 

"Drake  was  a  born  singer,  —  almost  an  improvisatore,  —  whose 
imaginative  faculty,  although  of  rather  flimsy  texture,  was  always 
rapid,  joyous,  and  infectious."  —  Bayard  Taylor. 

Life.  —  (No  life  of  Drake  and  no  complete  collection  of 
his  poems  have  yet  been  published.  See  Wilson's  Life  of 
Halleck,  and  Bryant  and  his  Friends  ;  also  Richardson, 
II.,  24-27.)  The  lives  of  Joseph  Rodman  Drake  and  the 
English  poet  Keats  seem  to  have  had  much  in  common. 
Born  the  same  year,  they  died  within  a  few  months  of 
each  other  of  the  same  disease.  Forced  The  Croaker 
from  childhood  to  struggle  with  poverty,  ^ 


each  received  no  systematic  education,  and  Flas-" 

The  Culprit 

each  at  length  chose  the  medical  profession  Fay. 
as  a  means  for  winning  daily  bread.  When  consump- 
tive tendencies  became  marked,  Drake  sought  in  vain 
for  relief  in  New  Orleans,  while  Keats  went  to  the  south 
of  Europe.  Both  died  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-five, 
when  life  had  hardly  begun.  Farther  than  this  the 
comparison  may  not  safely  be  made,  for  although 
Drake  produced  a  few  lyrics  of  exquisite  beauty  that 
are  not  forgotten,  Keats  has  left  work  that  will  stand 
while  the  language  endures. 

One  of  the  most  important  circumstances  in  the  lives 
of  Drake  and  Fitz-Greene  Halleck,  and  indeed  one  of 
the  most  charming  episodes  in  the  history  of  American 


164  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

literature,  was  the  life-long  friendship  of  the  two  poets, 
which  began  some  months  after  Halleck's  removal  to 
New  York  in  1811.  The  chief  literary  result  of  this 
friendship  was  The  Croaker  Papers,  a  series  of  light, 
satirical  poems,  "  contributed,"  in  the  words  of  Halleck, 
"  anonymously  to  the  columns  of  the  New  York  Evening 
Post  from  March  to  June,  1819,  and  occasionally  after- 
wards." After  the  death  of  Drake  these  Papers  were 
published  in  an  elegant  edition,  but  they  are  now  more 
easily  to  be  found  in  the  1868  edition  of  Halleck's 
poems. 

"  Whoever  among  the  present  generation  wishes  to  learn  some* 
thing  of  the  leading  men  of  the  city  and  state  and  of  the  social, 
scientific,  and  political  events  of  so  interesting  a  decade  as  that  of 
1819-1829  in  New  York  history,  cannot  but  be  enlightened,  as  well 
as  greatly  amused,  by  a  perusal  of  these  sprightly  poems."  —  J.  G. 
Wilson. 

But  Drake's  claim  to  remembrance  rests  almost 
wholly  upon  The  Culprit  Fay,  written,  according  to 
the  best  authority,  in  1816,  when  the  poet  was  in  his 
twenty-third  year.  This  fanciful  rhyme  of  fairyland, 
laid  amid  the  Highlands  of  the  Hudson,  tells  with  mi- 
nuteness the  story  of  a  fay,  who,  for  loving  "  an  earthly 
maid,"  was  condemned  by  the  fairy  court  to  purge  his 
wings  with  a  drop  caught  when 

"  The  sturgeon  leaps  in  the  bright  moonshine ; n 
and  to  follow  with  speed  the  first  shooting  star,  for 

"  The  last  faint  spark  of  its  burning  train 
Shall  light  the  elfin  lamp  again." 


THE  POETS.  165 

The  melody  of  this  dainty  creation  is  haunting  in  its 
sweetness ;  its  movement  is  rapid  and  spontaneous,  its 
descriptions  of  fairy  equipment  exquisitely  drawn.  Poe 
called  it  fanciful  rather  than  imaginative ;  some  have 
complained  that  it  is  extravagant  in  color  and  figure, 
yet  it  remains,  notwithstanding,  one  of  the  most  charm- 
ing of  fairy  tales,  a  veritable  midsummer  night's  dream. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  The  Culprit  Fay. 

FlTZ-GrREENE   HALLECK    (1790-1867). 

"  A  natural  lyrist,  whose  pathos  and  eloquence  were  inborn,  and 
whose  sentiment,  though  he  wrote  in  the  prevailing  English  mode, 
was  that  of  his  own  land."  —  Stedman. 

Life  (by  James  Grant  Wilson,  1869.     See   also  the 
elegant  Memorial  of  Fitz-  Crreene  Halleck  containing  the 
addresses  and  poems  delivered  at  the  dedi-  l(  Marco  Boz_ 
cation  of  the  Halleck  Monument  in  Guil-  zaris." 
ford,  Connecticut,  and  at  the  unveiling  of  "Red  Jacket." 
the  Central  Park  statue,  1877,  with  nu-  "Ainwick 

C/3/StlG. 

merous   engravings.      See    also   Wilson's  "Fanny." 
Bryant  and  his  Friends,  1886 ;  Poe's  Lit-  oTjos^^d? 
erati  and  Lowell's  Fable  for  Critics.-)  raan  Drake'" 

As  late  as  1846,  Poe,  in  his  Literati  of  New  York, 
declared  that 

"  Our  principal  poets  are  perhaps  most  frequently  named  in  this 
order :  Bryant,  Halleck,  Dana,  Sprague,  Longfellow,  Willis,  and  so 
on  —  Halleck  coming  second  in  the  series,  but  holding,  in  fact,  a 
rank  in  the  public  opinion  quite  equal  to  that  of  Bryant." 

But  it  was  the  fame  of  his  early  work  that  kept  Hal- 
leek's  name  thus  prominent.  Drake,  with  his  vivacity 


166  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

and  his  fine  fancy,  seems  to  have  been  his  inspiration. 
The  edition  of  his  poems  published  in  1827,  seven  years 
after  the  death  of  his  young  friend,  contains  nearly 
everything  of  value  that  Halleck  has  given  to  the  world. 
In  it  was  "  Marco  Bozzaris,"  his  finest  lyric,  an  heroic 
ode  that  has  the  ring  of  Campbell  at  his  best,  and  it 
also  contained  the  fine  poems  "  Burns  "  and  "  Alnwick 
Castle "  and  the  immortal  tribute  to  his  early  friend 
Drake,  commencing 

"  Green  be  the  turf  above  thee, 
Friend  of  my  better  days ! 
None  knew  thee  but  to  love  thee, 
Nor  named  thee  but  to  praise." 

In  1849,  at  the  death  of  John  Jacob  Astor,  in  whose 
counting-room  he  had  been  employed  for  sixteen  years, 
Halleck  returned  to  his  native  Guilford,  Connecticut, 
whence  he  had  wandered  a  half  century  before,  to  settle 
down,  as  he  expressed  it, 

"  Passing  rich  with  forty  pounds  a  year," 

from  the  estate  of  his  late  employer.  Here  he  died  in 
186T,  nearly  fifty  years  after  the  youthful  poet  whose 
name  stands  linked  with  his. 

"  Halleck's  importance  is  at  once  perceived,  if  we  project  him 
against  the  background  of  his  time.  His  position  is  almost  that 
of  the  German  poet,  Gellert,  —  the  first  to  sing  a  natural  note,  in 
a  waste  of  dulness  and  imitation,  and  growing  silent  as  he  lived 
to  be  the  contemporary  of  far  greater  men.  Each  of  his  lyrics 
came  forth  like  a  burst  of  light,  because  the  poetic  atmosphere 
was  one  of  level  gloom.  He  was  the  American  twin  brother  of 
Campbell,  to  whom,  as  a  poet,  he  always  felt  nearest,  yet  vhom  he 
never  imitated.  The  ten  years,  from  1817  to  1827,  begin  and 


THE  POETS.  167 

complete  his  season  of  productiveness.  Nothing  that  he  wrote 
before  or  after  that  period  possesses  any  vitality ;  and  it  is  proba- 
ble, in  fact,  that  he  will  only  be  known  to  later  generations  by 
six  poems,  which  I  venture  to  name  in  the  order  of  their  excel- 
lence :  <  Marco  Bozzaris,'  '  Burns,'  <  Red  Jacket,'  « Alnwick  Castle,' 
'  The  Field  of  the  Grounded  Arms,'  and  « On  the  Death  of  Drake.' 
His  'Fanny'  may  still  be  read  with  interest,  but  its  original 
charm  faded  away  with  the  surprise  of  its  appearance."  — Bayard 
Taylor. 

REQUIRED  READING.  — "  Marco  Bozzaris,"  "  On  the  Death 
of  Drake,"  and  "Burns."  Also  Whittier's  poem  "  Fitz-Greene 
Halleck." 

MINOR  POETS. 

Washington  Allston  (1779-1843),  whom  Underwood 
designates  as  "perhaps  the  greatest  painter  of  our 
English  race,"  was  one  of  the  most  cultured  men  of 
early  New  England ;  a  writer  of  force  and  imagination, 
and  a  conversationalist  of  the  very  first  order.  He  was 
born  in  South  Carolina,  but  removing  in  early  boyhood 
to  New  England,  he  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1800, 
and  shortly  afterwards  entered  the  Royal  Academy  in 
England.  He  spent  much  of  his  life  abroad,  especially 
in  Rome,  where  Irving  found  him  in  1804,  and  became 
so  charmed  with  the  man  and  his  life  that  he  for  a  time 
seriously  contemplated  the  study  of  painting  as  a  life- 
work.  Allston's  chief  poetical  work,  the  Sylphs  of  the 
Seasons,  appeared  in  London  in  1813.  But,  while  his 
poems  have  many  beauties,  it  is  chiefly  as  an  influence 
that  he  is  remembered  in  literature.  Compared  with 
many  of  his  contemporaries,  his  production  was  small 
indeed,  yet  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that,  in  intro- 
ducing America  to  the  culture  of  Europe,  Allston  did  a 


16&  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

service  to  our  literature  second  only  to  that  rendered 
by  Longfellow. 

John  Pierpont  (1785-1866),  a  native  of  Connecticut 
and  a  graduate  of  Yale,  after  a  short  career  as  a  lawyer 
and  a  merchant,  was  ordained  in  1819  as  pastor  of  the 
Hollis  Street  Church,  Boston,  where  he  served  for  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  century.  His  Airs  of  Palestine, 
1816,  gave  him  a  wide  popularity.  He  wrote  very  volu- 
minously both  in  prose  and  verse,  his  poems  being 
chiefly  hymns  and  odes  written  for  various  occasions, 
but  his  fame,  like  the  refrain  of  his  best-known  poem, 
is  "passing  away."  (See  Wilson's  Bryant  and  his 
Friends.") 

Richard  Henry  Dana  (1787-1879),  like  Bryant,  lived 
to  see  almost  the  whole  history  of  American  literature, 
from  its  first  feeble  beginnings  until  the  present  time. 

With  few  other  authors  has  time  so  reversed  her 
first  judgments.  For  almost  half  a  century  Dana  was 
counted  with  the  three  or  four  greatest  American  poets, 
while  to-day  he  is  remembered  chiefly  by  his  long  poem, 
The  Buccaneers.  But  though,  like  Allston's,  his  actual 
production  was  small,  his  influence  for  good  on  our  lit- 
erature, in  its  most  critical  period,  cannot  be  overesti- 
mated. Aside  from  his  poems,  he  contributed  to  the 
Worth  American  Review  a  series  of  papers  on  the 
English  poets,  that  won  for  him  a  place  that  he  still 
holds  among  the  best  American  literary  critics.  He 
delivered  lectures  on  Shakespeare,  published  several 
thin  volumes  of  poetry  and  two  psychological  novels, 
and  in  1821,  assisted  by  Bryant  and  Allston,  established 


THE  POETS.  169 

in  Boston  The  Idle  Man,  a  periodical  somewhat  after 
the  style  of  Johnson's  Rambler  and  Idler. 

Dana  was  a  native  of  Cambridge,  Massachusetts, 
where  the  most  of  his  life  was  passed,  and  where  he 
died  at  the  great  age  of  ninety-two.  His  son,  R.  H. 
Dana,  Jr.  (1815-1882),  was  the  author  of  Two  Fears 
Before  the  Mast  (1837),  by  many  considered  the  best 
sea  narrative  in  the  language.  See  page  152. 

See  Bryant  and  his  Friends;  Whipple's  Essays  and  Reviews, 
Vol.  II.,  also  Adams'  Life  ofR.H.  Dana,  Jr. 

Lydia  Huntley  Sigourney  (1791-1865),  a  native  of 
Norwich,  Connecticut,  was  the  author  of  no  less  than 
forty-six  distinct  works  in  prose  and  verse.  Her  sympa- 
thies and  her  sincere  religious  convictions  shine  sweetly 
from  all  her  writings.  As  a  poet,  she  was  exceedingly 
popular,  especially  with  religious  readers.  "  Niagara," 
"  The  Death  of  an  Infant,"  and  "  Winter  "  are  among 
her  best  poems.  See  Whittier's  Poem  to  Lydia  H. 
Sigourney. 

Charles  Sprague  (1791-1875)  is  another  example  of 
the  emptiness  of  contemporary  fame.  During  the  first 
half  of  the  century  he  ranked  second  only  to  Bryant 
and  Halleck,  but  to-day  he  is  little  more  than  a  vague 
memory.  Sprague  was  a  banker  in  Boston,  and  during 
the  whole  of  his  long  life  never  went  ten  miles  from 
his  native  city.  His  Ode  to  Shakespeare,  a  carefully 
elaborated  production,  which  really  possesses  literary 
merit  of  a  high  order,  was  hailed  by  contemporary 
critics  as  the  equal  of  Gray's  Progress  of  Poesy,  and  the 
superior  even  of  Dryden's  "  Alexander's  Feast."  As  an 


170  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

orator,  Sprague  won  many  laurels.  His  Fourth  of  July 
oration,  of  1825,  has  been  declaimed  by  thousands  of 
schoolboys. 

Maria  Gowen  Brooks  (1795-1845),  hailed  by  Southey 
as  "Maria  del  Occidente,"  was  a  native  of  Medford, 
Massachusetts.  In  1830  she  visited  England,  where 
she  lived  for  a  time  in  the  home  of  the  poet  Southey, 
who  declared  her  "the  most  impassioned  and  most 
imaginative  of  all  the  poetesses."  Her  chief  work, 
Zopliiel ;  or  the  Bride  of  Seven,  London,  1833,  a  poem 
evidently  inspired  by  the  Book  of  Tobit  in  the  Apocry- 
pha, shows  great  artistic  skill  and  power,  but  lacks 
simplicity  and  human  tenderness.  It  is  purely  an  intel- 
lectual production.  Idomen ;  or  the  Vale  of  Yumuri, 
an  autobiographic  poem,  appeared  shortly  before  the 
author's  death. 

James  Gates  Percival  (1795-1857),  a  native  of  Con- 
necticut, an  eminent  scholar  and  linguist,  was  at  one 
time  considered  the  most  promising  American  poet,  but 
his  verses  were  hastily  written  and  never  revised,  and 
his  carelessness  has  consigned  him,  along  with  others 
far  less  gifted,  to  oblivion.  His  best  known  poems  are 
"  The  Coral  Grove,"  "  Seneca  Lake,"  and  "  Mary." 

See  Lowell's  My  Study  Windows. 

John  G.  C.  Brainerd  (1796-1828),  born  in  New  Lon- 
don, Connecticut,  and  a  member  of  the  class  of  1815 
at  Yale,  died  of  consumption  at  the  early  age  of  thirty- 
two.  His  poems,  little  lyrics  charmingly  constructed, 
possess,  in  many  instances,  merits  of  a  high  order.  His 
"Fall  of  Niagara,"  containing  only  nineteen  lines,  was 


THE  POETS.  171 

declared  by  Jared  Sparks  to  be  the  most  forcible  and 
the  most  graphically  correct  poem  ever  written  on  the 
great  cataract.  A  complete  edition  of  Brainerd's  poems, 
with  an  appreciative  memoir  by  Whittier,  appeared  four 
years  after  the  poet's  death.  An  elegant  edition,  with 
a  memoir  by  the  Rev.  Royal  Robbins,  was  published 
in  Hartford  in  1842. 

George  P.  Morris  (1802-1864),  a  native  of  Philadel- 
phia, whom  Tuckerman  mentions  as  pre-eminently  "  the 
song-writer  of  America,"  was  during  nearly  all  of  his 
life  connected  with  journalism  in  New  York  City.  His 
lyrics  like  "  My  Mother's  Bible,"  "  Woodman,  Spare 
that  Tree,"  and  scores  of  others,  which  deal  with  the 
common  experiences  of  home  life,  are  "heart-songs" 
that  can  never  grow  old.  No  poet  of  his  generation 
was  more  loved  both  in  Europe  and  America. 

See  Literary  Criticisms,  by  Horace  Binney  Wallace. 

Single  Poem  Poets.  —  This  period  of  American  litera- 
ture produced  a  large  number  of  single  lyrics  which 
have  become  famous  apart  from  the  names  of  their 
authors.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned  "The  Star- 
spangled  Banner,"  by  Francis  Scott  Key  (1779-1843); 
"The  Old  Oaken  Bucket,"  by  Samuel  Woodworth 
(1785-1842);  and  "My  Life  is  like  a  Summer  Rose," 
by  Richard  Henry  Wilde  (1789-1847).  Although 
John  Howard  Payne  (1792-1852)  wrote  upwards  of 
sixty  dramas,  he  is  now  remembered  solely  on  account 
of  his  little  lyric  "  Home,  Sweet  Home,"  originally  a 
part  of  his  play  The  Maid  of  Milan, 


XI. 

EDGAR  ALLAN  POE. 

1809-1849. 

41  Alone  among  our  poets  Poe  links  us  to  European  literature  by 
his  musical  despair."  —  Greenough  White. 

EDGAR  ALLAN  POE  stands  solitary  among  the  Ameri- 
san  men  of  letters.  Although,  by  a  strange  chance, 
born  in  Boston,  he  had  nothing  in  common  with  the 
New  England  group  of  authors,  and  although  he  passed 
an  important  part  of  his  life  in  New  York  City,  he 
was  in  no  way  a  member  of  the  Knickerbocker  School. 
Whether  viewed  as  poet,  romancer,  or  critic,  he  stands 
by  himself ;  he  refuses  to  be  classified ;  he  seems  out  of 
place  in  American  literature,  like  an  importation  from 
the  Old  World,  —  a  Pushkin,  or  Heine,  or  De  Musset ; 
like  a  brilliant  exotic  among  the  native  wild  flowers. 

Life. — (Poe's  writings  were  first  collected  in  1850 
by  Rufus  W.  Griswold  in  a  four  volume  edition  pref- 
aced by  a  memoir.  This  sketch,  written  in  a  hostile 
spirit,  was  answered  in  1859  in  Sarah  H.  Whitman's 
Edgar  A.  Poe  and  his  Critics,  and  later  by  John  Ingram 
and  by  W.  F.  Gill.  Prefixed  to  various  editions  of 
Poe's  works  have  been  notices  of  his  life  and  genius 
by  such  writers  as  Willis,  Lowell,  Stoddard,  Charles  F. 
Briggs,  James  Hannay,  Edmund  Blanchard,  and  others. 

172 


EDGAR  ALLAN  POE.  173 

Poe's  life  has  also  been  written  by  Eugene  Didier  and 
by  George  E.  Woodberry.  The  latter  work,  which  is 
one  of  the  American  Men  of  Letters  Series,  and  which 
is  the  most  accurate  and  impartial  life  of  the  poet  that 
has  yet  appeared,  is  the  only  one  that  can  be  recom- 
mended without  reserve  for  school  use.  A  good  work- 
ing edition  of  Poe's  works  is  that  published  in  six  vol- 
umes in  1884,  edited  by  R.  H.  Stoddard.  This  edition 
contains  an  excellent  Life  by  the  editor.  The  latest 
and  most  complete  editions  of  Poe  are  Stedman  and 
Woodberry's,  in  ten  volumes,  1895,  and  J.  A.  Harrison's 
Poe's  Complete  Works,  seventeen  volumes,  1902.  For  a 
complete  bibliography  of  Poe,  see  Stedman  and  Wood- 
berry's  edition,  Vol.  X.,  pp.  267-281. 

In  the  biography  of  no  eminent  American  is  it  so  dif- 
ficult to  arrive  at  the  unvarnished  truth  as  in  that  of 
Poe.  His  own  statements  cannot  be  trusted  for  a  mo- 
ment. He  gave,  at  various  times,  at  least  three  widely 
different  dates  for  his  birth ;  he  seemed  to  be  proud  of 
the  reckless  exploits  of  his  youth,  and  magnified  them 
when  possible;  and  he  sanctioned  the  wildest  fables, 
like  the  story  of  his  journey  to  St.  Petersburg  in  1827. 
His  biographers  have  taken  every  standpoint,  from  that 
of  Griswold,  a  virtual  enemy,  to  that  of  Ingram,  who 
goes  to  the  opposite  extreme  of  laudation. 

Poe  was  born  in  Boston,  Jan.  19,  1809.  His  father, 
David  Poe,  the  son  of  a  distinguished  Revolutionary 
officer  of  Baltimore,  had  abandoned  the  law  to  become 
an  indifferent  actor,  and  in  1805  had  married  Mrs.  Eliza- 
beth Arnold  Hopkins,  a  pretty,  young  actress  of  con- 


174  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

siderable  ability..  During  the  three  years  ending  in 
September,  1809,  they  had  found  steady  employment 
in  Boston,  but  in  1811  both  died  of  quick  consumption, 
leaving  three  destitute  children,  the  eldest  only  five 
years  of  age.  Their  pitiful  condition  attracted  the  at- 
tention of  the  people  of  Richmond,  where  the  mother 
had  died,  and  Edgar,  the  second  of  the  family,  a  bright, 
beautiful  boy,  was  taken  into  the  home  of  Mr.  John 
Allan,  a  wealthy  tobacco  merchant.  The  child  was 
given  every  advantage.  When  six  years  of  age  he  was 
taken  by  his  foster  parents  to  England,  where  for  five 
years  he  attended  a  private  school  near  London.  Re- 
turning to  Richmond  in  1820,  he  was  provided  with 
private  tutors,  and  was  ready  in  1826  to  enter  the 
University  of  Virginia.  By  December  of  the  same  year 
he  had  contracted  so  many  debts  that  Mr.  Allan  refused 
to  furnish  more  money,  and  Poe  was  accordingly  given 
a  chance  in  the  counting-room  at  Richmond.  Becom- 
ing disgusted  with  this  work,  he  soon  left  the  city,  and, 
pressing  on  to  Boston,  published,  in  1827,  a  thin  volume 
of  poems  under  the  title  Tamerlane  and  Other  Poems. 
By  a  Bostonian.  In  May  of  the  same  year  he  enlisted 
in  the  regular  army,  where  he  served  for  two  years, 
rising  to  the  rank  of  sergeant-major.  In  1829,  learn- 
ing of  the  death  of  Mrs.  Allan,  Poe  went  home  on  a 
furlough,  was  forgiven  by  his  foster  father,  and  through 
his  influence  was  appointed  a  cadet  at  West  Point.  In 
ten  months  he  was  cashiered  for  misconduct,  and  was 
immediately  disowned  by  Mr.  Allan,  who,  dying  soon 
afterwards,  made  no  mention  of  him  in  his  will. 


EDGAR  ALLAN  POE.  175 

The  next  period  in  Poe's  career  was  passed  in  Balti- 
more, which,  as  it  was  then  the  literary  capital  of  the 
South,  had  attracted  the  ambitious  young  poet.  But 
his  literary  efforts  were  wholly  without  success  until 
1833,  when  he  succeeded  in  winning  the  one  hundred 
dollar  prize  offered  lay  the  newly  established  Saturday 
Visiter  for  the  best  short  story.  John  P.  Kennedy,  who 
was  one  of  the  judges,  afterwards  declared  that  Poe's 
manuscript,  which  was  as  clean  and  legible  as  print,  was 
decided  upon  almost  at  sight.  Poe  had  submitted  six 
tales,  neatly  bound,  entitled  Tales  of  the  Folio  Club, 
from  which  was  selected  for  publication  "The  Manu- 
script Found  in  a  Bottle."  During  the  next  two  years 
Poe  made  his  home  with  his  aunt,  Mrs.  Clemm,  and  in 
1835,  through  the  efforts  of  Kennedy,  secured  a  place 
on  The  Southern  Literary  Messenger,  of  which  he  soon 
became  sole  editor.  In  1836  he  was  married  to  his 
cousin,  Virginia  Clemm,  a  frail,  beautiful  girl  of  four- 
teen, whose  love  was  the  brightest  sunbeam  that  ever 
entered  his  sad  life.  Every  prospect  of  happiness  and 
success  seemed  before  him ;  The  Messenger  became  widely 
known,  carrying  everywhere  his  fame  as  a  critic  and 
story  writer,  but  in  eighteen  months  he  was  again  a 
wanderer. 

During  the  next  five  years  Poe  was  employed  in 
Philadelphia,  first  on  the  editorial  staff  of  The  Gentle- 
man's Magazine  and  afterwards  on  that  of  Graham's 
Monthly.  In  1842,  he  removed  to  New  York,  where  the 
rest  of  his  life  was  passed.  He  found  employment  for 
a  time  under  N.  P.  Willis  on  The  Evening  Mirror  and 


176  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

he  afterwards  became  connected  with  The  Broadway 
Journal,  but  his  unfortunate  habits  rendered  it  impos- 
sible for  him  long  to  retain  a  position.  "  The  Raven," 
which  appeared  in  1844,  immediately  gave  him  an  un- 
precedented popularity,  but  his  wife  was  wasting  away 
with  consumption  amid  all  the  accompaniments  of  abject 
poverty.  In  spite  of  his  increasing  fame  and  his  steady 
hard  work,  he  was  obliged  to  receive  pecuniary  aid. 
After  his  wife's  death  in  1847,  Poe  seemed  half  insane 
and  wholly  reckless.  Two  years  later  he  proposed  mar- 
riage to  a  Mrs.  Shelton,  of  Richmond,  a  friend  of  his 
boyhood,  and,  being  accepted,  immediately  started  south 
to  make  arrangements  for  the  wedding,  but  falling  in 
with  old  companions  in  Baltimore,  he  became  crazed 
with  drink,  and  was  found  unconscious  several  days 
later.  He  lingered  until  October  7,  when  he  died  in 
the  forty-first  year  of  his  age.  Such,  in  brief,  is  the  sad 
and  tragic  story  of  Edgar  Allan  Poe. 

1.  As  a  Critic. — It  should  be  remembered  that  Poe 
first  became  known  to  the  reading  public  not  as  a  poet 
nor  as  a  story  writer,  but  as  a  critic,  and  that  it  was  in 
this  role  that  he  was  best  known  throughout  the  greater 
part  of  his  life.  In  1835,  by  a  single  skilful  review  of 
a  crude  but  popular  novel,  he  placed  The  Southern 
Literary  Messenger  beside  the  best  American  magazines. 
Throughout  his  life  it  was  in  the  service  of  criticism 
that  his  pen  was  oftenest  used. 

That  Poe  was  an  unfair  and  one-sided  critic  cannot  be 
disputed ;  that  his  personal  likes  and  dislikes  had  great 
influence  upon  his  estimates,  is  all  too  true,  yet  in  spite 


EDGAR  ALLAN  POE.  177 

of  all  this  his  work  in  this  department  cannot  be  over- 
looked. In  his  work  on  The  Southern  Literary  Messen- 
ger he  certainly  inaugurated  "  the  new  age  in  American 
criticism."'  All  his  honest  criticisms  have  been  proved 
by  time  to  be  strikingly  correct.  It  was  Poe  who 
hailed  Hawthorne  as  a  novelist  of  the  first  rank  when 
that  shy  genius  was  "the  obscurest  man  of  letters  in 
America."  Poe  was  quick  to  see  the  true  worth  of 
Longfellow  and  of  many  another  American  poet  at  a 
time  when  they  were  all  but  unknown. 

Of  Poe's  methods  as  a  critic  Mr.  Woodberry  says : 

"The  whole  mass  of  his  criticism — but  a  small  portion  of 
which  deals  with  imaginative  work  —  is  particularly  characterized 
by  a  minuteness  of  treatment  which  springs  from  a  keen,  artistic 
sensibility,  and  by  that  constant  regard  to  the  originality  of  the 
writer  which  is  so  frequently  an  element  in  the  jealousy  of  genius. 
One  wearies  in  reading  it  now ;  but  one  gains  thereby  the  bettei 
impression  of  Poe's  patience  and  of  the  alertness  and  compass  of 
his  mental  curiosity."  —  Life  of  Poe. 

Poe  failed  of  winning  a  high  place  as  a  critic,  first, 
because  of  his  inordinate  vanity.  He  wished  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  profound  scholar  and  accordingly  disfigured 
his  work  with  abundant  allusions  to  occult  and  curi- 
ous lore  of  which  he  really  knew  very  little.  He 
delighted  to  show  the  resources  of  his  analytical 
mind  by  investigating  minute  and  unimportant  points. 
JSecondly,  he  had  a  hobby,  —  the  charge  of  plagiarism, 
—  from  which  he  never  dismounted,  and  thirdly,  he  was 
not  honest.  His  Literati  of  New  York,  while  it  contains 
very  much  valuable  criticism,  is  justly  to  be  regarded 
with  suspicion  from  its  senseless  denunciation  of  its 


178  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

author's   enemies   and  its   sickening  laudation   of  his 
worthless  friends. 

Stoddard's  judgment  of  Poe's  criticism  is  summed  up 
in  one  sentence  : 

"  Apart  from  the  mechanism  of  authorship,  which  he  called  '  the 
philosophy  of  composition,'  his  verdicts  were  of  no  value." 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "  The  Poetic  Principle." 

2.  As  a  Poet.—  (Stedman,  239;  Richardson,  II.,  97-116.) 
Poe's  fame  as  a  poet  rests  on  less  than  a  dozen  short 
"The  Raven."  poems.  Few  writers  of  any  land  have 
"The  Bells."  reached  anything  even  approximating  his 

"To  Helen."         ,.,  ...  .,,  ,  ,  . 

"  The  City  in      literary  position  with  so  thin  a  repertory, 

the  Sea."  yet  ^ad  poe  written  only  "The  Raven" 

"The  Valley  of  J  ^ 

Unrest."  his  literary  fame  would   still   be   secure. 


All  that  he  wrote  was  distinctly  his  own, 
original  in  its  melody  and  form,  and  per- 
"Uiaiume."  meated  through  and  through  with  his 
"Thefcon-  '  peculiar  personality.  His  sense  of  beauty 
queror  Worm."  was  marvellously  fine.  Though  his  poems 
are  all  sombre  in  hue,  —  mere  cries  of  despair,  —  there 
is  a  haunting  beauty  in  their  melody  which  makes  them 
cling  in  the  memory,  even  against  the  will.  There  is 
something  almost  magical  in  the  melody  of  such  lines  as 

"  For  the  moon  never  beams  without  bringing  me  dreams 

Of  the  beautiful  Annabel  Lee  ; 
And  the  stars  never  rise,  but  I  feel  the  bright  eyes 
Of  the  beautiful  Annabel  Lee." 

Poe  has  expressed  his  theory  of  poetical  beauty  in  its 
highest  manifestations  by  saying  : 


EDGAR  ALLAN  FOE.  179 

"All  experience  has  shown  that  this  tone  is  one  of  sadness. 
Beauty  of  whatever  kind  in  its  supreme  development,  invariably 
excites  the  sensitive  soul  to  tears.  Melancholy  is  thus  the  most 
legitimate  of  all  the  poetical  tones.  .  .  .  Death  is  the  most 
melancholy  topic  according  to  the  universal  understanding  of 
mankind  .  .  .  and  most  melancholy  when  it  most  closely  allies 
itself  to  beauty."  —  The  Philosophy  of  Composition. 

In  accordance  with  this  principle  nearly  all  of  Poe's 
poetical  work  was  done.  With  few  exceptions  his  theme 
is  the  same.  With  him  poetry  was  a  sacred  thing,  "  not 
a  purpose  but  a  passion,"  and  he  gave  to  it  only  his  best. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  The  ten  poems  at  the  margin. 

3.  As  a  Romancer. — (Woodberry,  117;  Stedman,  252; 
Richardson,  II.,  116-136.)  It  was,  perhaps,  in  the 
domain  of  the  short  prose  romance  that  Poe  was  at 
his  best,  for  here  his  imagination  had  free  play.  His 
tales,  all  of  which  are  short,  and  which  when  combined 
scarcely  make  a  volume  of  the  size  of  Hawthorne's 
Twice-told  Tales,  may  be  divided  into  two  classes: 
imaginative  tales  and  analytical  tales.  Of  the  former 
only  two,  "Ligeia"  and  "The  Fall  of  the  House  of 
Usher,"  need  be  mentioned.  These  mark  the  flood 
tide  of  Poe's  creative  achievement. 

"  In  <  Al  Araaf '  he  had  framed  out  of  the  breath  of  the  night 
wind  and  the  idea  of  the  harmony  of  universal  nature  a  fairy 
creature,  — 

'  Ligeia,  Ligeia,  my  beautiful  one  1 ' 

Now,  by  a  finer  touch,  he  incarnated  the  motions  of  the  breeze, 
and  the  musical  voices  of  nature,  in  the  form  of  a  woman :  but  the 
Lady  Ligeia  has  still  no  human  quality;  her  aspirations,  her 
thoughts  a*id  capabilities,  are  those  of  a  spirit ;  the  very  beam  and 


180  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

glitter  and  silence  of  her  ineffable  eyes  belong  to  the  visionary 
world.  She  is,  in  fact,  the  maiden  of  Foe's  dream,  the  Eidolon  he 
served,  the  air-woven  divinity  in  which  he  believed ;  for  he  had 
the  true  myth-making  faculty,  the  power  to  make  his  senses  aver 
what  his  imagination  perceived.  In  revealing  through  '  Ligeia 
the  awful  might  of  the  soul  in  the  victory  of  its  will  over  death, 
and  in  the  eternity  of  its  love,  Poe  worked  in  the  very  element  of 
his  reverie,  in  the  liberty  of  a  world  as  he  would  have  it.  Upon  this 
story  he  lavished  all  his  poetic,  inventive,  and  literary  skill,  and  at 
last  perfected  an  exquisitely  conceived  work,  and  made  it,  within 
its  own  laws,  as  faultless  as  humanity  can  fashion." —  Woodberry. 

11  The  Fall  of  the  House  of  Usher  "  is  nearly  as  perfect 
in  its  art.  (For  Poe's  idea  of  the  short  prose  romance 
as  a  vehicle  of  artistic  expression,  see  his  review  of 
Hawthorne's  Tales,  Works,  Vol.  VI.) 

The  second  division  of  Poe's  tales  may  be  understood 
best  from  his  ingenious  tale,  "  The  Gold  Bug."  Poe's 
brain  was  keen  and  electric.  He  had  the  analytic 
faculty  in  a  high  degree,  and  he  delighted  in  applying  it 
to  the  solution  of  almost  impossible  problems.  It  is  true 
that  it  is  not  hard  to  find  the  clew  in  a  maze  of  one's 
own  construction.  Poe's  ability  as  an  analytic  thinker 
has  therefore  been  challenged,  since  he  was  free  to  make 
the  web  from  which  he  was  to  escape.  But  one  should 
not  forget  that  it  requires  just  as  much  skill  to  make  a 
successful  maze  as  it  does  to  escape  from  one  already 
constructed.  Poe  demonstrated  fully  his  analytical 
powers  by  telling  the  complete  plot  of  Dickens'  Barndby 
Rudge,  after  reading  the  first  magazine  instalment  of 
the  novel,  a  feat  that  filled  Dickens  with  amazement. 
With  his  tale,  "  The  Murders  in  the  Rue  Morgue,"  Poe 
may  be  said  to  have  originated  the  modern  detective 


EDGAR  ALLAN  POE.  181 

story.  "  The  Gold  Bug  "  is  a  tale  of  the  recovery  of  a 
vast  buried  treasure  through  the  deciphering  of  an 
almost  impossible  cryptogram. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "Ligeia;"  "The  Fall  of  the  House  of 

Usher;"  "The  Gold  Bug." 

The  rest  of  Poe's  tales  need  not  be  mentioned.  Their 
jstyle  is  clear  and  seemingly  definite,  but  the  impression 
left  on  the  reader  is  always  vague  and  awful.  Their 
domain  is  ghost  land.  Their  very  titles  are  fearsome. 
They  teach  no  lesson  and  serve  no  purpose,  save  to  chill 
the  blood  by  mere  revolting  physical  horror.  In  his 
best  tales  Poe's  art  is  equal  to  Hawthorne's.  His  plots 
are  arranged  with  great  skill,  and  the  reader  is  drawn 
rapidly  to  the  climax  in  the  way  that  will  most  com- 
pletely unnerve  him.  Poe's  one  thought  was  of  the 
effect  he  was  producing  on  his  reader.  Instruction  and 
moral  lessons  had,  he  maintained,  no  place  in  fiction. 

Poe's  Character  and  Rank.  —  The  faults  of  no  Ameri- 
can author  have  been  so  paraded  before  the  public  as 
those  of  Poe.  Griswold,  his  first  biographer,  dwelt  at 
length  upon  his  failings,  but  a  more  charitable  view 
has  been  taken  by  later  writers.  Willis,  who  knew  him 
intimately,  declared  that  "  he  was  punctual  and  industri- 
ous, quiet,  patient,  gentlemanly,  commanding  the  utmost 
respect  and  good  feeling."  In  his  home  Poe  was  at  his 
best.  Passionately  devoted  to  his  wife  and  her  mother, 
his  domestic  life  was  well-nigh  faultless.  When  sober 
he  took  the  greatest  pains  with  his  productions.  He 
rewrote  his  earlier  poems  many  times,  some  of  his  most 


182  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

haunting  melodies  being  the  result  of  the  most  exacting 
effort. 

"  On  the  roll  of  our  literature  Poe's  name  is  inscribed  with  the 
few  foremost,  and  in  the  world  at  large  his  genius  is  established  as 
valid  among  all  men.  Much  as  he  derived  nurture  from  other 
sources  he  was  the  son  of  Coleridge  by  the  weird  touch  in  his 
imagination,  by  the  principles  of  his  analytic  criticism,  and  the 
speculative  bent  of  his  mind.  An  artist  primarily,  whose  skill, 
helped  by  the  finest  sensitive  and  perceptive  powers  in  himself, 
was  developed  by  thought,  patience,  and  endless  self-correction 
into  a  subtle  deftness  of  hand  unsurpassed  in  its  own  work,  he 
belonged  to  the  men  of  culture  instead  of  those  of  originally  per- 
fect power ;  but  being  gifted  with  the  dreaming  instinct,  the  myth- 
making  faculty,  the  allegorizing  power,  and  with  no  other  poetic 
element  of  high  genius,  he  exercised  his  art  in  a  region  of  vague 
feeling,  symbolic  ideas,  and  fantastic  imagery,  and  wrought  his 
spell  largely  through  sensuous  effects  of  color,  sound,  and  gloom, 
heightened  by  lurking  but  unshaped  suggestions  of  mysterious 
meanings.  Now  and  then  gleams  of  light  and  sketches  of  lovely 
landscape  shine  out,  but  for  the  most  part  his  mastery  was  over 
dismal,  superstitious,  and  waste  places.  In  imagination,  as  in 
action,  his  was  an  evil  genius;  and  in  its  realms  of  re  very  he 
dwelt  alone."  —  Woodberry. 

Poe's  grave  in  Baltimore  remained  without  a  mark 
until  1875,  when  a  stone  was  raised  to  his  memory.  In 
1885  a  memorial  tablet  was  placed  in  the  New  York 
Museum  of  Art  with  the  inscription 

"  He  was  great  in  his  genius,  unhappy  in  his  life,  wretched  in 
his  death,  but  in  his  fame  he  is  immortal." 


XII. 
THE  ORATORS. 

THAT  the  art  of  oratory  reached  its  highest  develop- 
ment in  America  during  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century  was  the  direct  result  of  the  spirit  of  the  age. 
Politics  held  the  first  place  in  the  popular  mind,  but 
in  politics  everything  turned  on  one  great,  burning 
issue,  —  slavery.  Never  was  there  a  question  that 
divided  public  opinion  more  sharply,  never  was  there 
an  issue  that  was  fought  and  defended  with  more  bitter- 
ness. The  history  of  the  legislation  of  the  period  is 
but  the  story  of  this  one  question,  and  of  the  problems 
which  grew  from  it.  Congress  became  the  scene  of 
fierce  and  prolonged  debates.  It  was  a  school  from 
which  came  some  of  the  most  wonderful  orators  of  the 
century. 

The  two  parties  were  of  almost  equal  strength.  New 
States  were  admitted  in  pairs,  so  that  the  free  and  the 
slave  territory  were  kept  constantly  equal.  The  first 
alarming  crisis  came  in  1820,  when  Missouri  sought 
admission  as  a  slave  State,  but  under  the  skilful  leader- 
ship of  Clay,  who  framed  the  measure  known  as  the 
"  Missouri  Compromise,"  the  danger  was  averted.  The 
relief  was  only  temporary,  however,  for  soon  the  fight 
waged  with  still  greater  fierceness  over  the  "Wilmot 

183 


184  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Proviso  "  and  the  "  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill.''  The  debates 
centred  about  the  dangerous  doctrine  of  States  Rights. 
The  South  maintained  that  the  Union  was  not  necessarily 
a  homogeneous  organism,  but  rather  a  league  of  friendly 
powers  which  were  to  act  together  when  convenient, 
but  which  were  otherwise  free  to  follow  their  own 
counsels.  South  Carolina  even  maintained  that  each 
State  was  the  judge  of  the  legality  and  constitutionality 
of  any  act  of  Congress,  and  in  1832  actually  attempted 
to  put  in  practice  this  theory.  Since  both  parties  pro- 
fessed to  "stand  upon"  the  Constitution,  this  instru- 
ment was  studied  with  extreme  care  and  expounded 
with  much  learning  and  rhetoric.  During  the  period, 
the  leaders  of  the  Northern  forces  were  Webster  and 
Clay;  while  the  South  rallied  about  Calhoun  and 
Hayne» 

DANIEL  WEBSTER  (1782-1852). 

"  The  orator  of  the  Union." 

"Take  him  for  all  in  all,  he  was  not  only  the  greatest  orator  this 
country  has  ever  known,  but  in  the  history  of  eloquence  his  name 
will  stand  with  those  of  Demosthenes  and  Cicero,  of  Chatham  and 
Burke."  —  Lodge. 

Life.  —  (The  standard  Life  of  Webster  is  that  by 
George  Ticknor  Curtis,  1870.  In  1851  Webster's  works 
were  collected  in  six  volumes  with  a  biographical  sketch 
by  Edward  Everett.  Webster's  Private  Correspondence, 
edited  by  his  son,  Fletcher  Webster,  appeared  in  1856. 
Among  the  great  mass  of  Websteriana  may  be  men- 
tioned the  Life.,  by  Charles  Lanman,  and  that  by  Henry 
Cabot  Lodge,  in  the  American  Statesmen  Series.  The 


THE  ORATORS.  185 

best  study  of  the  comparative  excellence  of  Webster's 
eloquence  is  Judge  Mellen  Chamberlain's  speech  at  the 
Dartmouth  College  alumni  dinner,  a  work  now  issued 
in  pamphlet  form.) 

Daniel  Webster  was  born  in  Salisbury  (now  Frank- 
lin), New  Hampshire,  during  the  last  year  of  the  Revo- 
lution. His  father,  a  strong  and  daring  man,  had 
served  through  the  French  and  Indian  War  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  famous  corps  of  frontiersmen  known  as 
"  Rogers'  Rangers,"  and  during  the  Revolution  he  had 
left  his  little  family  on  their  backwoods  farm,  and  had 
served  with  distinction  to  the  close  of  the  war.  Daniel, 
the  second  son  of  this  family,  was  weak  and  delicate. 
For  him  the  severe  round  of  farm  life  was  out  of  the 
question,  and  in  spite  of  the  straitened  resources  of  the 
hard-working  parents,  it  was  decided  that  he  should 
go  to  college.  Under  the  tutorship  of  a  clergyman  in 
a  neighboring  town,  he  was  fitted,  in  1797,  for  Dart- 
mouth College,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1801. 
After  teaching  for  a  short  time  in  Fryeburg^  Maine,  he 
commenced  the  study  of  law  in  his  native  town,  con- 
tinuing it  later  in  the  office  of  Christopher  Gore  in 
Boston,  and,  in  1805,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He 
thereupon  practised  his  profession  first  in  Boscawen, 
and  afterwards  in  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  rising 
with  rapid,  strides  to  legal  prominence.  In  1812,  he 
was  elected  to  Congress,  and  the  remainder  of  his  life 
was  spent  in  public  life  or  in  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion, of  which  he  was  soon  the  recognized  leader.  He 
served  for  three  terms  as  senator  from,  MassachusettSi 


186  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

and  was  Secretary  of  State  under  both  Harrison  and 
Fillmore. 

Webster's  first  great  oration  was  delivered  in  1820  at 
the  Second  Centennial  of  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims. 
In  1825,  he  was  the  orator  at  the  laying  of  the  corner- 
stone of  the  Bunker  Hill  Monument,  and  during  the 
following  year  he  was  chosen  to  deliver  the  eulogy  on 
Adams  and  Jefferson.  In  1830,  he  made  the  crowning 
speech  of  his  life  in  the  United  States  Senate,  in  reply 
to  an  attack  by  Robert  Y.  Hayne  of  South  Carolina. 
During  the  same  year  he  delivered  the  famous  speech 
at  the  White  murder  trial  in  Salem. 

He  died  at  Marshfield,  Massachusetts,  Oct.  24,  1852. 

His  Personal  Appearance.  —  Mr.  Lodge  in  his  admira- 
ble life  of  Webster  says,  "  There  is  no  man  in  all  history 
who  came  into  the  world  so  equipped  physically  for 
speech."  His  person  was  imposing,  his  head  was  of 
massive  size,  his  eyes  deep-set  and  piercing,  his  voice 
powerful  and  sonorous,  giving  the  impression  of  vast 
powers  held  in  reserve.  Carlyle,  who  was  not  usually 
impressed  by  Americans,  wrote  to  Emerson  in  1839: 

"  Not  many  days  ago  I  saw  at  breakfast  the  notablest  of  all  your 
notabilities,  —  Daniel  Webster.  He  is  a  magnificent  specimen ;  you 
might  say  to  all  the  world,  *  This  is  your  Yankee  Englishman,  such 
limbs  we  make  in  Yankeeland.'  As  a  logic  fencer,  advocate,  or 
parliamentary  Hercules,  one  would  incline  to  back  him  at  first 
sight  against  all  the  extant  world.  The  tanned  complexion ;  that 
amorphous,  crag-like  face ;  the  dull  black  eyes  under  their  preci- 
pice of  eyebrow,  like  dull  anthracite  furnaces,  needing  only  to  be 
blown ;  the  mastiff  mouth,  accurately  closed.  I  have  not  traced  as 
much  of  silent  Berserkir-rage,  that  I  remember  of,  "in  any  other 
man."  —  The  Carlyle-Emerson  Correspondence. 


THE  ORATORS.  187 

When  in  action  Webster  swept  all  before  him.  Once 
seen  when  ho  was  deeply  stirred,  he  could  never  be  for- 
gotten. 

"  As  his  feelings  warmed  the  fire  came  into  his  eyes ;  there  was 
a  glow  on  his  swarthy  cheek ;  his  strong  right  arm  seemed  to  sweep 
away  resistlessly  the  whole  phalanx  of  his  opponents,  and  the  deep 
and  melodious  cadences  of  his  voice  sounded  like  harmonious  organ 
tones  as  they  filled  the  chamber  with  their  music."  —  Lodge. 

As  a  Master  of  English  Style.  —  (See  Whipple's  Amer- 
ican Literature  and  Essays  and  Reviews,  Vol.  I.)  As 
the  master  of  a  pure  and  vigorous  English  prose  style, 
Webster  has  had  few  equals.  His  best  orations  may  be 
studied  as  models  of  correct  diction  and  rhetorical  fin- 
ish. His  style  may  be  characterized  as  majestic.  It 
abounds  in  sonorous  and  elaborate  word  pictures.  He 
was  a  clear  thinker,  and  his  sentences  are  as  clear  as  his 
thought.  His  combinations  are  accurate  and  logical, 
and  his  illustrations  are  forceful.  The  orations  of  Clay 
and  Calhoun  seem  dull  and  spiritless  as  we  read  them 
now;  the  magnetism  of  the  orator,  the  tones  of  his 
voice,  the  flash  of  his  eye,  and  the  thrill  of  the  occa- 
sion gave  the  words  a  life  and  power  which  vanished  as 
soon  as  they  passed  into  print.  But  Webster's  orations 
lose  nothing  with  time.  They  are  full  of  their  original 
force  and  fire.  They  hold  the  reader  as  the  orator  held 
his  audience,  and  we  feel  the  thrill  and  excitement  of 
the  original  occasion.  It  is  this  that  brings  the  work 
of  Webster  into  the  realm  of  pure  literature. 

"  In  the  sphere  of  literature  Webster  has  a  clear  title  to  be  held 
as  one  of  the  greatest  authors  and  writers  of  our  mother  tongue 
that  America  has  produced.  I  propose  to  the  most  competent 


188  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

critics  of  the  nation  that  they  can  find  nowhere  six  octavo  volumes 
of  printed  literary  production  of  an  American  that  contain  as  much 
noble  and  as  much  beautiful  imagery,  as-  much  warmth  of  rhetoric, 
and  of  magnetic  impression  upon  the  reader  as  are  to  be  found  in 
the  collected  writings  and  speeches  of  Daniel  Webster."  —  Evarts. 

REQUIRED  READING. —  The  Plymouth  Oration,  The  First  Bun* 
ker  Hill  Oration. 


KUFUS  CHOATE  (1799-1859). 

Life  (by  E.  G.  Parker;  by  Joseph  Neilson,  1884. 
See  also  selections  from  the  writings  of  Choate  in  two 
volumes,  with  memoir  by  S.  G.  Brown ;  and  Whipple's 
Recollections  of  Eminent  Men,  and  Essays  and  Reviews, 
Vol.  II.).  Rufus  Choate,  a  native  of  Essex,  Massachu- 
setts, and  a  member  of  the  class  of  1819  at  Dartmouth, 
was  in  many  respects  the  equal  of  Webster  as  an  orator. 
He  was  a  man  of  deep  scholarship,  of  wide  and  varied 
reading,  and  refinement  of  character.  As  a  lawyer  he 
has  had  no  superior  in  America.  His  mind  was  accu- 
rate and  analytical,  singularly  adapted  to  the  sifting  of 
evidence,  while  his  power  over  juries  was  phenomenal. 

His  style  is  peculiar.  His  intimate  knowledge  of 
the  intricacies  of  the  English  tongue,  and  his  deep 
classical  education,  enriched  his  oratory.  His  vocabu- 
lary was  exhaustive;  he  used  adjectives  with  the  skill 
of  a  painter;  and  his  sentences,  with  their  subdivisions 
within  subdivisions,  are  marvels  of  length  and  arrange- 
ment. Some  of  them  contain  from  four  hundred  to 
seven  hundred  words.  His  best  known  oration  is  the 
eulogy  delivered  on  the  death  of  Webster. 


THE  ORATORS.  189 

Webster  and  Choate.  — "  Webster  and  Choate,  each  in  a  dif- 
ferent way,  were  perfection.  The  eloquence  of  Webster  had  the 
affluent  potentiality  of  the  rising  sun,  of  the  lonely  mountain, 
of  the  long,  regular,  successive  surges  of  the  resounding  sea.  His 
periods  are  as  lucid  as  light ;  his  logic  was  irresistible  ;  his  facts 
came  on  in  a  solid  phalanx  of  overwhelming  power;  his  tones 
were  crystal  clear ;  his  magnificent  person  towered  in  dignity,  and 
seemed  colossal  in  its  imperial  grandeur ;  his  voice  grew  in  volume, 
as  he  became  more  and  more  aroused,  and  his  language,  glowing 
with  the  fire  of  conviction,  rose  in  swells,  and  broke,  like  the  great 
ninth  wave  that  shakes  the  solid  crag.  His  speech,  however,  was 
addressed  always  to  the  reason,  never  to  the  imagination.  The 
eloquence  of  Rufus  Choate,  on  the  other  hand,  was  the  passionate 
enchantment  of  the  actor  and  the  poet, — an  eloquence  in  which 
you  felt  the  rush  of  the  tempest,  and  heard  the  crash  of  breakers, 
and  the  howling  of  frantic  gales,  and  the  sobbing  wail  of  home- 
less winds  in  bleak  and  haunted  regions  of  perpetual  night. 
He  began  calmly,  often  in  a  tone  that  was  hardly  more  than  a 
whisper;  but  as  he  proceeded  the  whole  man  was  gradually  ab- 
sorbed and  transfigured,  as  into  a  mountain  of  fire,  which  then 
poured  forth,  in  one  tumultuous  and  overwhelming  torrent  of  mel- 
ody, the  iridescent  splendors  of  description,  and  appeal,  and  humor, 
and  pathos,  and  invective,  and  sarcasm,  and  poetry,  and  beauty,  — 
till  the  listener  lost  all  consciousness  of  self,  and  was  borne  away  a^ 
on  a  golden  river  to  a  land  of  dreams.  The  vocabulary  of  that 
orator  seemed  literally  to  have  no  limit.  His  voice  sounded  every 
note,  from  a  low,  piercing  whisper  to  a  shrill,  sonorous  scream.  His 
remarkable  appearance,  furthermore,  enhanced  the  magic  of  his 
speech.  The  tall,  gaunt,  vital  figure,  the  symmetrical  head,  the 
clustered  hair, —  once  black,  now  faintly  touched  with  gray, — 
the  emaciated,  haggard  countenance,  the  pallid  olive  complexion, 
the  proud  Arabian  features,  the  mournful,  naming  brown  eyes,  the 
imperial  demeanor  and  wild  and  lawless  grace,  the  poetic  person- 
ality, commingled  with  the  boundless  resources  of  his  eloquence 
to  rivet  the  spell  of  altogether  exceptional  character  and  genius." 
—  William  Winter's  eulogy  on  Curtis. 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  "  Eulogy  on  Daniel  Webster." 


190  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

HENRY  CLAY  (1777-1852). 
"The  great  reconciler,  the  orator  of  sympathy." 

Life  (by  Epes  Sargent,  1844 ;  by  Calvin  Colton,  1856 , 
by  Carl  Schurz,  1890,  in  American  Statesmen  Series 
and  by  others.  See  also  Parton's  Famous  Americans). 
For  a  generation  the  most  prominent  figure  in  American 
politics  was  that  of  the  great  Whig  leader,  Henry  Clay. 
Though  a  Virginian  by  birth  and  representing  the  State 
of  Kentucky  in  the  Senate,  he  was  opposed,  though  not 
radically,  to  the  institution  of  slavery.  He  stood  mid- 
way between  the  extremists  of  both  parties,  and  by  his 
great  tact  he  succeeded  again  and  again  in  uniting  them 
when  irreconcilable  rupture  seemed  inevitable.  The 
Missouri  Compromise,  forbidding  slavery  above  latitude 
36°  30';  the  Nullification  Law  of  1833;  and  finally  the 
Compromise  of  1850,  which  provided,  among  other 
things,  that  California  should  enter  the  Union  under 
its  own  constitution,  and  that  slavery  should  be  abol- 
ished in  the  District  of  Columbia,  are  monuments  to 
his  skill  as  a  mediator,  —  a  skill  that  postponed  for 
many  years  "the  inevitable  conflict." 

With  little  education  and  almost  no  literary  ability, 
Clay  was  the  master  of  a  persuasive  style  of  oratory. 
Tradition  is  unanimous  in  regard  to  his  eloquence,  and 
yet  the  six  volumes  of  his  printed  speeches  are  dry  and 
lifeless.  The  life-giving  principle  has  evaporated  from 
them.  Clay's  wonderful  popularity  and  his  power  over 
audiences  was  due  almost  wholly  to  his  magnetic  per- 
sonality, his  enthusiasm,  and  his  knowledge  of  human 
nature. 


THE  ORATORS.  191 

JOHN  CALDWELL  CALHOUN  (1782-1850). 

"Calhoun,  Clay,  Webster!  I  name  them  in  alphabetical  order. 
What  other  precedence  can  be  assigned  them  ?  Clay,  the  great  leader ; 
Webster,  the  great  orator;  Calhoun,  the  great  thinker."  —  Edward 
Everett. 

Life  (by  J.  S.  Jenkins,  by  H.  Von  Hoist,  in  American 
Statesmen  Series,  and  by  others.  See  Parton's  Famous 
Americans).  The  leader  of  the  South  in  its  debate 
over  the  doctrine  of  States  Rights  was  John  C.  Cal- 
houn of  South  Carolina,  who  carried  the  doctrine  to  its 
extreme,  defending  vigorously  the  Nullification  Ordi- 
nance of  1832.  Maintaining  that  not  one  of  the  framers 
of  the  Constitution,  not  even  Washington  or  Hamilton, 
had  contemplated  a  form  of  government  that  would 
bind  a  State  beyond  its  will,  he  contended  that  the 
Constitution  was  merely  a  compact  between  the  States; 
that  the  States  were  bound  only  so  far  as  they  wished 
to  be,  and  that  any  one  of  them  might  repudiate  any 
act  of  Congress  which  it  deemed  illegal  or  unconsti- 
tutional. 

Notwithstanding  his  radical  position,  the  moral  purity 
of  Calhoun's  life  and  the  honesty  of  his  convictions  com- 
manded the  respect  even  of  his  opponents.  His  influ- 
ence was  very  great.  The  impress  of  his  severe,  logical 
mind  is  upon  every  great  political  measure  of  his  time. 
He  was  a  clear  thinker  and  a  logician  of  the  first  rank. 
Webster  said  of  his  oratory  : 

"  His  eloquence  was  part  of  his  intellectual  character.  It  was 
plain,  strong,  terse,  condensed,  concise;  sometimes  impassioned, 
still  always  severe.  Rejecting  ornament,  not  often  seeking  far  for 


192  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

illustration,  his  power  consisted  in  the  plainness  of  his  propositions, 
in  the  closeness  of  his  logic,  and  in  the  earnestness  and  energy  of 
his  manner." 


EDWARD  EVERETT  (1794-1865). 

Life  (address  on  the  Life  and  Public  Services  of  Ed- 
ward Everett  by  R.  H.  Dana,  Jr.  See  also  Whipple's 
Character  and  Characteristic  Men,  and  Emerson's  "  Life 
and  Letters  in  New  England  ").  Few  Americans  of  any 
generation  have  made  a  greater  impress  upon  their  times 
or  have  filled  more  positions  of  the  highest  responsibility 
than  did  Edward  Everett.  It  was  not  for  him  to  wait 
through  slow  years  for  the  opportunity  for  influence 
and  power.  Fame  came  to  him  with  a  bound.  At  the 
age  of  nineteen  he  had  won  a  national  reputation  as  a 
profound  scholar  and  eloquent  preacher ;  at  twenty-one 
he  was  offered  the  chair  of  Greek  in  Harvard  University, 
his  alma  mater. 

Everett's  scholarship  was  broad  and  exact.  While 
studying  in  Europe  preparatory  to  taking  the  Greek 
chair  at  Harvard,  he  was  hailed  by  the  savant  Cousin, 
as  "the  best  Grecian  he  had  ever  known."  He  brought 
back  to  America  a  new  intellectual  life.  Says  Emerson, 
who  was  then  an  undergraduate,  "  Germany  had  created 
criticism  in  vain  for  us  until  1820,  when  Edward  Everett 
returned  from  his  five  years  in  Europe  and  brought  to 
Cambridge  his  rich  results,  which  no  one  was  so  fitted 
by  natural  grace  and  the  splendor  of  his  rhetoric  to 
introduce  and  recommend."  All  listened  spellbound  to 
his  wisdom,  as  if  one  of  the  old  Greeks  had  wandered 


THE  ORATORS.  193 

into  the  present ;  indeed  Emerson  declares  that  "  there 
was  an  influence  on  the  young  people  from  the  genius 
of  Everett  which  was  almost  comparable  to  that  of  Per- 
icles in  Athens." 

In  1824,  Everett  was  elected  to  Congress,  where  he 
served  with  distinction  during  the  stormy  ten  years  that 
followed.  The  rest  of  his  life  was  but  a  succession  of 
responsible  positions.  As  governor  of  Massachusetts 
for  four  terms,  as  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  Great 
Britain,  as  president  of  Harvard  University,  as  Secre- 
tary of  State  after  the  death  of  Webster,  and  as  United 
States  senator,  Everett  was  called  upon  to  solve  some 
of  the  most  perplexing  problems  of  his  day. 

As  a  statesman,  he  ranks  second  only  to  Webster  and 
Clay ;  as  a  scholar,  he  has  had  but  few  equals  in  Amer- 
ica ;  as  a  scholarly  and  finished  orator,  he  was  surpassed 
only  by  Choate ;  and  as  a  popular  lecturer,  he  has  never, 
in  America  at  least,  had  an  equal.  With  his  Oration  on 
Washington,  delivered  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty 
times  in  various  parts  of  the  United  States,  he  earned  no 
less  than  ninety  thousand  dollars  for  the  Mount  Vernon 
fund,  and  with  many  of  his  other  lectures  he  was  no  less 
successful. 

"  His  orations  were  composed  for  widely  differing  occasions,  but 
in  each  case  the  treatment  is  so  masterly  that  one  would  think  the 
subject  then  in  hand  had  been  the  especial  study  of  his  life.  But 
his  care  did  not  cease  with  the  preparation ;  his  voice,  gestures, 
and  cadences  were  always  in  harmony  with  his  theme,  so  that  he 
was  absolute  master  of  his  audience." —  Underwood. 

"  The  great  charm  of  Mr.  Everett's  orations  consists  not  so  much 
in  any  single  and  strongly  developed  intellectual  trait  as  in  that 
o 


194  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

symmetry  and  finish  which  on  every  page  give  token  of  the  richly 
endowed  and  thorough  scholar.  The  natural  movements  of  his 
mind  are  full  of  grace,  and  the  most  indifferent  sentence  which 
falls  from  his  pen  has  that  simple  elegance  which  it  is  as  difficult 
to  define  as  it  is  easy  to  perceive.  His  level  passages  are  nevei 
tame,  and  his  fine  ones  are  never  superfine.  His  style  with  match- 
less flexibility  rises  and  falls  with  his  subject  and  is  alternately 
easy,  vivid,  elevated,  ornamented,  or  picturesque,  adapting  itself  to 
the  dominant  mood  of  the  mind,  as  an  instrument  responds  to  the 
touch  of  a  master's  hand.  His  knowledge  is  so  extensive  and  the 
field  of  his  allusions  so  wide  that  the  most  familiar  views  in  pass- 
ing through  his  hands  gather  such  a  halo  of  luminous  illustrations 
that  their  likeness  seems  transformed  and  we  entertain  doubts  of 
their  identity."—  G.  S.  Hillard. 

Among  Everett's  orations  may  be  mentioned  his  Phi 
Beta  Kappa  Oration  of  1824  on  American  Literature, 
his  "  Early  Days  of  Franklin,"  and  his  Gettysburg  Ora- 
tion. He  also  wrote  the  life  of  Washington  in  the 
Encyclopedia  Britannica,  the  life  of  Stark  in  Sparks' 
American  Biography,  and  several  poems.  His  orations 
were  collected  in  four  volumes  in  1869. 


XIII. 
THE  SECOND  CREATIVE  PERIOD. 

1837-1861. 

WITH  the  passing  of  the  brilliant  Knickerbocker  group 
of  writers  the  literary  sceptre  departed  for  a  period  from 
New  York.  Of  the  thirty-eight  names  selected  by  Poe, 
in  1846,  as  the  "  literati  of  New  York,"  after  throwing 
out  Margaret  Fuller,  C.  P.  Cranch,  Mrs.  Child,  and 
others  who  were  only  temporary  residents  of  the  city, 
scarcely  one,  aside  from  Halleck,  Willis,  Verplanck,  and 
Duyckinck,  can  be  found  to-day  outside  of  Griswold's 
collections,  or  the  dictionaries  of  American  biography. 

Following  the  first  creative  period  there  came  an 
interval  of  barrenness  during  which  the  future  of  Ameri- 
can literature  looked  dark  and  uncertain.  Holmes,  with 
characteristic  terseness,  thus  pictures  the  literary  field  as 
it  appeared  in  1832 : 

"  Willis  was  by  far  the  most  prominent  young  American  author. 
Cooper,  Bryant,  Dana,  Halleck,  Drake,  had  all  done  their  best 
work.  Longfellow  was  not  yet  conspicuous.  Lowell  was  a  school- 
boy. Emerson  was  unheard  of.  Whittier  was  beginning  to  make 
his  way  against  the  writers  with  better  educational  advantages 
whom  he  was  destined  to  outdo  and  outshine.  Not  one  of  the 
great  histories,  which  have  done  honor  to  our  literature,  had 
appeared.  Our  schoolbooks  depended,  so  far  as  American  authors 
were  concerned,  on  extracts  from  the  orations  and  speeches  of 
Webster  and  Everett ;  on  Bryant's  '  Thanatopsis,'  his  lines  *  To  a 

195 


196  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Waterfowl,'  and  '  The  Death  of  the  Flowers ' ;  on  Halleck's  *  Marco 
Bozzaris,'  «  Red  Jacket/  and  « Burns ';  on  Drake's  *  American  Flag,' 
and  Percival's  « Coral  Grove,'  and  his  « Genius  Sleeping '  and 
'Genius  Waking,' — and  not  getting  very  wide  awake  either. 
These  could  be  depended  upon.  A  few  other  copies  of  verses 
might  be  found,  but  Dwight's  « Columbia,  Columbia,'  and  Pier- 
pout's  « Airs  of  Palestine,'  were  already  effaced,  as  many  of  the 
favorites  of  our  day  and  generation  must  soon  be,  by  the  great 
wave  which  the  near  future  will  pour  over  the  sands  in  which  they 
still  are  legible." — Introduction  to  A  Mortal  Antipathy. 

But  the  interregnum  was  not  a  long  one.  The  years 
between  1831  and  1839  witnessed  the  publication  of  the 
first  books  of  Whittier,  Sparks,  Bancroft,  Holmes,  Haw- 
thorne, Emerson,  Prescott,  Hildreth,  Motley,  Long- 
fellow, and  Margaret  Fuller.  The  advent  of  these 
authors  marks  the  opening  of  the  "  Augustan  Age  "  of 
American  literature. 

A  Mental  Revolution.  —  The  line  that  separates  the 
age  of  Irving  from  the  age  of  Emerson  is  not  the  result 
alone  of  a  geographical  shifting  of  the  centres  of  literary 
production.  The  transfer  of  the  leadership  from  New 
York  to  New  England  was  rather  the  result  of  a  mental 
revolution  which  changed  the  whole  character  of  New 
England  and  turned  into  new  channels  the  current  of 
its  thought  and  literature. 

The  narrow  ideals  and  the  fierce  intolerance  of  the 
Puritans  could  not  long  endure  unmodified,  since  every 
creed  that  runs  to  excess  must  at  length  suffer  from  a 
reaction.  The  revolt  against  Puritanism  in  England, 
which  had  been  precipitated  by  the  coronation  of  Charles 
II.  had  been  sudden  and  overwhelming.  In  a  moment 
the  pendulum  had  swung  from  one  extreme  to  the  other. 


THE  SECOND  CREATIVE  PERIOD.  197 

In  America  the  revolution  was  necessarily  more  gradual. 
Liberal  ideas  first  became  possible  under  the  charter 
granted  to  Massachusetts  by  William  III.  The  witch- 
craft delusion,  with  its  revolting  display  of  the  worst 
side  of  Puritanism,  opened  the  eyes  of  the  more 
thoughtful  and  conservative.  A  disbelief  in  miracles 
and  portents,  in  the  doctrines  of  total  depravity  and 
eternal  punishment,  began  to  creep  into  the  minds  of 
many.  The  new  spirit  gained  ground  slowly  but  surely. 
Quakers,  Baptists,  and  Catholics  were  allowed  to  build 
churches.  Liberal  preachers  began  to  fill  the  pulpits  of 
Boston.  Even  Harvard  University,  once  the  stronghold 
of  Puritanism,  elected  a  president  with  liberal  views, 
and  soon  afterward  openly  joined  the  new  movement. 
During  the  early  part  of  the  present  century  the  revolt 
against  Puritanism  went  to  nearly  as  violent  an  extreme 
in  New  England  as  formerly  it  had  done  under  Charles 
II.  in  England.  Later  on  the  revolution  drifted  into 
intellectual  and  humanitarian  channels. 

In  this  movement  three  distinct  ideas,  corresponding 
to  three  distinct  epochs,  may  be  recognized.  The  first 
phase  commenced  in  dissent  from  the  principles  of  Puri- 
tanism, and  reached  its  culmination  in  the  Unitarianism 
of  Channing ;  the  second  phase  was  known  by  the  meta- 
physical designation  of  Transcendentalism ;  while  in  its 
last  phase  the  movement  spent  its  ebbing  energies  in  the 
antislavery  agitation  preceding  the  Civil  War. 

1.  Unitarianism.  —  The  Unitarian  movement  in 
America  commenced  in  the  Congregational  churches  of 
Massachusetts,  at  first  in  a  veiled  form  under  the  name 


198  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

of  Arminianism,  but  in  1812  open  revolt  broke  out,  and 
soon  the  most  influential  churches  of  New  England  had 
embraced  the  new  ideas.  Showers  of  pamphlets  and 
sermons,  many  of  them  of  wonderful  strength  and 
excellence,  were  a  striking  characteristic  of  the  contro- 
versy that  followed.  The  discussion  of  the  doctrine  of 
the  Trinity,  which  was  at  first  prominent,  soon  gave 
way  to  numberless  other  important  discussions.  But 
the  theological  side  of  this  great  debate  need  not  con- 
cern us.  It  is  only  in  its  after  effects  that  it  is  of 
interest  to  the  student  of  American  literature. 

2.  Transcendentalism.  —  (See  Frothingham's  New 
England  Transcendentalism.  Also  lives  of  Bipley  and 
Parker,  Emerson's  Essays,  Miss  Alcott's  Transcendental 
Wild  Oats,  and  White's  Philosophy  of  American  Litera- 
ture, 46-64.)  The  second  phase  of  the  new  intellectual 
movement  was  the  Transcendentalism  of  Ripley  and 
Emerson,  which  was  a  departure  from  Unitarianism  as 
Unitarianism  had  been  a  departure  from  Calvinism.  It 
was  in  reality  Unitarianism  modified  by  the  philosophy 
of  Germany  and  France. 

To  understand  this  strange  episode  in  our  intellectual 
life  one  must  be  acquainted  somewhat  with  the  spirit  of 
the  age.  Every  student  of  European  and  of  American 
history  will  recognize  the  fact  that  the  first  half  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century  was  a  "  breaking-away  period," — a 
time  of  singular  and  universal  restlessness.  In  Europe 
political  revolutions  were  everywhere,  except  in  Russia, 
overturning  the  old  order  of  things.  New  ideas  for  the 
uplifting  of  society,  of  politics,  of  ethics,  were  in  the 


THE  SECOND  CREATIVE  PERIOD.  199 

air.  In  Germany,  the  school  of  Kant  and  Fichte  was 
introducing  a  new  philosophy ;  in  France,  Fourier  and 
St.  Simon  were  explaining  a  new  science  of  society 
whose  foundations  were  laid  upon  cooperation  and  a 
community  of  property.  The  Swedish  philosopher, 
Swedenborg,  had  introduced  a  new  religious  system. 
The  Swiss  reformer,  Pestalozzi,  was  inaugurating  a  new 
era  in  the  history  of  education.  In  medicine  the  dis- 
cussion of  homoeopathy,  hydropathy,  and  many  other 
systems  was  engaging  the  attention  of  the  profession ; 
while  the  new  sciences,  so  called,  of  mesmerism  and 
phrenology,  as  introduced  by  Gall  and  Spurzheim,  were 
creating  much  excitement  in  some  circles.  Coleridge 
and  Southey  and  Carlyle  were  arousing  England  with 
the  new  German  philosophy. 

In  America  the  increased  facilities  for  communication 
with  Europe  led  to  an  acquaintance  with  Continental 
thought  and  literature.  A  new  impetus  was  given  to 
the  study  of  the  modern  languages.  In  1820  Edward 
Everett  told  in  glowing  rhetoric  of  the  treasures  that 
might  be  found  in  the  literature  and  philosophy  of  Ger- 
many. Channing  in  1823,  and  George  Bancroft  in 
1825,  made  eloquent  pleas  for  an  increased  attention  to 
the  literatures  of  Europe.  Numberless  translations  soon 
appeared,  some  of  them  of  high  rank.  As  a  result  of 
this  contact  with  Continental  thought,  New  England 
became  infected  with  the  restlessness  that  had  pervaded 
Europe,  and  a  singular  spirit  of  dissent  and  protest,  of 
experiment  and  inquiry,  crept  into  all  departments  of 
her  intellectual  life. 


200  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

"What  a  fertility  of  projects  for  the  salvation  of  the  world! 
One  apostle  thought  all  men  should  go  to  farming,  and  another 
that  no  man  should  buy  or  sell,  that  the  use  of  money  was  the  car- 
dinal evil ;  another  that  the  mischief  is  in  our  diet.  .  .  .  Others 
attacked  the  system  of  agriculture,  the  use  of  animal  manures  in 
farming,  and  the  tyranny  of  man  over  brute  nature ;  these  abuses 
polluted  his  food.  .  .  .  Others  assailed  particular  vocations,  as 
that  of  the  lawyer,  that  of  the  merchant,  of  the  manufacturer,  of 
the  clergyman,  of  the  scholar.  Others  attacked  the  institution  of 
marriage  as  the  fountain  of  social  evils."  —  Emerson. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Emerson's  "  New  England  Reformers." 
Brook  Farm. —  Swift's  Brook  Farm  :  Its  Members,  Schol- 
ars, and  Visitors;  Hawthorne's  Blithedale  Romance,  and 
J.  H.  U.  Studies,  Vol.  6.)  In  the  words  of  Frothing- 
ham,  the  historian  of  the  movement,  "  it  was  felt  at  this 
time,  1842,  that  in  order  to  live  a  religious  and  moral 
life  in  sincerity,  it  was  necessary  to  leave  the  world  of 
institutions  and  to  reconstruct  the  social  order  from  new 
beginnings."  Accordingly,  many  of  the  reformers  actu- 
ally joined  themselves  into  communities  "  where  every- 
thing was  common,"  as  Lowell  phrased  it,  "  except 
common  sense."  In  a  short  time  there  were  as  many  as 
thirty  of  these  organizations,  each  with  its  own  peculiar 
regulations  and  ideals,  but,  as  might  have  been  expected, 
all  died  speedy  and  natural  deaths. 

The  most  famous  of  all  these  phalansteries  was  that 
at  Brook  Farm.  This  community,  organized  in  1842  by 
George  Ripley  as  a  stock  company,  purchased  two  hun- 
dred acres  in  West  Roxbury,  Massachusetts,  eight 
miles  from  Boston.  Among  the  best  known  of  its  mem- 
bers were  Hawthorne,  Charles  A.  Dana,  and  George 
William  Curtis.  Emerson  and  Margaret  Fuller,  who 


THE  SECOND  CREATIVE  PERIOD.  201 

were  in  full  sympathy  with  the  movement,  made  fre- 
quent visits  to  the  farm,  while  Theodore  Parker,  A.  B. 
Alcott,  W.  H.  Channing,  and  others  gave  it  their  hearty 
support.  "  To  remodel  society  and  the  world  into  a 
4  happy  family,' "  says  Holmes,  "  was  the  aim  of  these 
enthusiasts."  Channing  wrote  that  the  object  of  the 
I  community  was  to  found  an  association  "  in  which  the 
members  should  live  together  as  brothers,  seeking  one 
another's  elevation  and  spiritual  growth."  The  daily 
life  of  the  community  consisted  of  cooperative  farm 
work,  reading,  lecturing,  writing,  and  conversation. 
This  ideal  life  of  "  plain  living  and  high  thinking  "  con- 
tinued until  1846,  when  the  community  building  burned. 

Although  the  Brook  Farm  Community  ended  in 
seeming  failure,  its  influence  on  American  thought  and 
literature  cannot  be  overlooked.  It  brought  together 
for  a  period  of  several  years  the  best  thinkers  of  New 
England.  At  no  other  time  in  our  history  has  there 
been  such  a  dwelling  together  of  intellectual  leaders. 
When  the  community  scattered,  its  members  bore  away 
the  impress  of  the  most  powerful  minds  of  the  genera- 
tion. 

The  Philosophical  Basis  of  this  movement,  which  has 
been  widely  discussed  under  the  name  of  Transcenden- 
talism, can  be  explained  best  by  Emerson,  who  appeared 
to  know  the  most  about  it. 

"  What  is  popularly  called  Transcendentalism  among  us  is  Ideal- 
ism :  Idealism  as  it  appears  in  1842.  As  thinkers,  mankind  have 
ever  been  divided  into  two  sects,  —  Materialists  and  Idealists  ;  the 
first  class  founding  on  experience,  the  second  on  consciousness ; 


202  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

the  first  class  beginning  to  think  from  the  data  of  the  senses,  the 
second  class  perceive  that  the  senses  are  not  final,  and  say,  the 
senses  give  us  representations  of  things,  but  what  are  the  things 
themselves,  they  cannot  tell.  The  Materialist  insists  on  facts,  on 
history,  on  the  force  of  circumstances  and  the  animal  wants  of 
man ;  the  Idealist  on  the  power  of  thought  and  of  will,  on  inspi- 
ration, on  miracle,  on  individual  culture.  .  .  .  The  idealism  of 
the  present  day  acquired  the  name  of  transcendental  from  the  use 
of  that  term  by  Immanuel  Kant,  who  replied  to  the  sceptical 
philosophy  of  Locke,  which  insisted  that  there  was  nothing  in  the 
intellect  which  was  not  previously  in  the  experience  of  the  senses, 
by  showing  that  there  was  a  very  important  class  of  ideas,  or  im- 
perative forms,  which  did  not  come  by  experience,  but  through 
which  experience  was  acquired ;  that  these  were  intuitions  of  the 
mind  itself,  and  he  denominated  them  transcendental  forms." — 
The  Transcendentalist. 

The  Dial. —  Emerson  was  generally  recognized  as  the 
leader  of  the  movement,  although  Alcott,  Margaret 
Fuller,  and  George  Ripley  were  more  active  in  dis- 
seminating its  principles.  The  village  of  Concord,  the 
home  of  Emerson,  Thoreau,  Ripley,  and  Alcott,  became 
the  transcendental  centre.  In  1840,  The  Dial  first 
appeared,  a  paper  that  was  to  be  the  mouthpiece  of  the 
new  philosophy,  edited  first  by  Margaret  Fuller,  after- 
wards by  Emerson,  who  contributed  upwards  of  forty 
articles  in  prose  and  verse.  Thoreau  wrote  for  nearly 
every  number,  while  Theodore  Parker,  Alcott,  Ripley, 
James  Freeman  Clarke,  William  Ellery  Charming,  Wil- 
liam Henry  Channing,  C.  P.  Cranch,  and  many  others 
were  frequent  contributors. 

"It  was  conceived  and  carried  out  in  a  spirit  of  boundless  hope 
and  enthusiasm.  Time  and  a  narrowing  subscription  list  proved 
too  hard  a  trial,  and  its  four  volumes  remain  stranded,  like  some 


THE  SECOND   CREATIVE  PERIOD.  203 

rare  and  curiously  patterned  shell  which  a  storm  of  yesterday  has 
left  beyond  the  reach  of  the  receding  waves." —  Holmes. 

3.  Antislavery.  —  The  last  phase  of  the  movement 
towards  intellectual  and  spiritual  freedom  was  the  abo- 
lition agitation,  which,  alter  a  stormy  career,  was  put  to 
rest  by  the  Civil  War.  It  began  in  1831,  with  Garri- 
son's Liberator.  The  movement  was 

"at  first  religious  and  pious,  addressing  itself  to  the  churches 
and  clergy,  and  with  such  success  that  in  1835  there  had  been 
formed  throughout  the  country  not  less  than  two  thousand  anti- 
slavery  societies,  whose  members  belonged  mostly  to  the  evangeli- 
cal churches.  But  in  that  year  the  South  became  alarmed  and 
angry  and  the  politicians  and  commercial  men  set  themselves  to 
stem  the  tide  of  fanaticism,  as  they  termed  it.  The  cry  of  « The 
Union  in  danger'  was  raised,  a  fierce  persecution  was  excited,  the 
abolitionists  were  mobbed  in  all  quarters,  even  in  Boston  itself, 
and  the  two  thousand  antislavery  societies  vanished  like  the  phan- 
toms of  a  dream.  The  churches  and  the  clergy,  with  few  excep- 
tions, bent  to  the  storm,  and  the  leading  divines  of  nearly  all  the 
great  sects  became  apologists  for  slavery  or  silent  on  the  subject. 
A  small  body  of  abolitionists,  however,  stood  firm,  and  held  to 
their  principles  in  defiance  of  popular  rage  and  outrage.  Their 
struggle  changed  its  character,  and  from  a  protest  against  black 
slavery  it  became  a  hand-to-hand  contest  for  white  liberty  of 
speech  and  of  the  press."  —  Robert  Carter. 

The  Transcendentalists,  though  generally  opposed  to 
slavery,  were  not  all  of  them  abolitionists.  Many  of 
them,  indeed,  were  openly  opposed  to  abolition.  Yet  the 
two  movements  started  from  the  same  fountain  head. 
Garrison  was  the  leader  of  the  movement;  Whittier 
was  its  poet,  Sumner  its  representative  in  Congress, 
Mrs.  Stowe  its  novelist,  and  Wendell  Phillips  its  orator. 
The  work  of  these  brave  leaders  closed  the  period. 


XIV. 
THE  UNITARIAN  LEADERS. 

WILLIAM  ELLERT  CHAINING  (1780-1842). 

"  There  is  one  word  that  covers  every  cause  to  which  Charming 
devoted  his  talents  and  his  heart,  and  that  word  is  Freedom.  Liberty 
is  the  key  of  his  religious,  his  political,  his  philanthropic  principles. 
Free  the  slave,  free  the  serf,  free  the  ignorant,  free  the  sinful.  Let 
there  be  no  chains  upon  the  conscience,  the  intellect,  the  pursuits,  or 
the  persons  of  men."  —  Bellows. 

As  Charming  was  three  years  the  senior  of  Irving, 
and  as  his  life-work  was  nearly  done  at  the  opening  of 
the  second  creative  period,  he  belongs  chronologically 
with  the  Knickerbockers.  But  the  work  of  C banning 
cannot  logically  be  considered  apart  from  that  of  Emer- 
son and  his  followers.  He  was  the  morning  star  that 
ushered  in  the  new  era,  —  the  pioneer  who  made,  to  a 
large  degree,  the  new  era  possible. 

Life  (by  W.  H.  Channing,  1848;  by  C.  T.  Brooks; 
by  Miss  Peabody ;  by  H.  W.  Bellows.  There  is  a  fine 
description  of  Dr.  Channing  in  George  William  Curtis' 
Trumps.  See  also  Prescott's  Miscellanies;  and  Lowell's 
"  Elegy  on  the  Death  of  Dr.  Channing"). 

Channing  was  born  in  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  in  1780, 
and  he  entered  Harvard  at  the  age  of  fourteen.  After 
his  graduation  he  spent  a  short  time  as  tutor  in  a  private 
family  in  Virginia,  studied  theology  at  Cambridge,  and 

204 


THE  UNITARIAN  LEADERS.  205 

in  1803  took  charge  of  the  Federal  Street  Chureh  in 
Boston,  where  his  sermons  soon  attracted  wide  attentior 
on  account  of  their  solemnity,  fervor,  and  beauty. 

In  1812  occurred  the  separation  between  the  two 
wings  of  the  Congregational  Church,  but  it  was  not 
until  1819,  when  he  boldly  and  clearly  set  forth  his 
views  in  the  sermon  at  the  ordination  of  Jared  Sparks 
at  Baltimore,  that  Channing  became  the  generally  rec- 
ognized head  of  the  Unitarian  faction,  a  position  that  he 
was  to  hold  until  his  death.  Channing's  sermons  during 
this  period  were  eloquent  and  thoughtful,  and  in  their 
printed  form  are  now  one  of  the  best  commentaries  on 
Unitarianism  that  have  ever  been  written.  Their  influ- 
ence on  the  times  cannot  be  overestimated.  In  the  words 
of  Emerson,  — 

"  Dr.  Channing  whilst  he  lived  was  the  star  of  the  American 
church,  and  we  then  thought,  if  we  do  not  still  think,  that  he  left 
no  successor  in  the  pulpit.  He  could  never  be  reported,  for  his  eye 
and  voice  could  not  be  printed,  and  his  discourses  lose  their  best 
in  losing  them.  He  was  made  for  the  public ;  his  cold  tempera- 
ment made  him  the  most  unprofitable  private  companion ;  but  all 
America  would  have  been  impoverished  in  wanting  him.  We 
could  not  then  spare  a  single  word  he  uttered  in  public,  not  so 
much  as  the  reading  a  lesson  in  Scripture  or  a  hymn,  and  it  is 
curious  that  his  printed  writings  are  almost  a  history  of  the  times, 
as  there  was  no  great  public  interest,  political,  literary,  or  even 
economical  (for  he  wrote  on  the  tariff),  on  which  he  did  not  leave 
his  brave  and  thoughtful  opinion.  A  poor  little  invalid  all  his  life, 
he  is  yet  one  of  those  men  who  indicate  the  power  of  the  American 
race  to  produce  greatness."  —  Life  and  Letters  in  New  England. 

Channing  was  one  of  the  active  spirits  in  the  Tran- 
scendentalist  movement,  being  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  Transcendentalist  Club  that  originated  the  Brook 


206  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Farm  Community.  But  for  his  death  he  would  have 
been  undoubtedly  its  most  prominent  leader.  During 
his  whole  life  he  was  an  active  antislavery  worker. 

As  a  Writer.  —  But  aside  from  his  work  as  a  religious 
and  social  reformer  in  the  van  of  a  movement  that  was 
destined  to  accomplish  great  things,  Channing  was  a 
man  of  letters  of  high  rank,  exerting  an  influence  on 
pure  literature  in  New  England  equalled  by  no  one 
before  the  time  of  Emerson.  In  1822  he  visited  Europe, 
returning  full  of  enthusiasm,  —  an  enthusiasm  which  he 
at  once  imparted  to  all  about  him.  In  his  Remarks  on 
a  National  Literature,  1823,  he  plead  with  eloquence  for 
an  American  literature  that  should  be  free  from  Euro- 
pean fetters. 

"  We  are  more  and  more,"  he  said,  "  a  reading  people.  Books 
are  already  among  the  most  powerful  influences  here.  The  question 
is,  Shall  Europe,  through  these,  fashion  us  after  its  pleasure  ? 
Shall  America  be  only  an  echo  of  what  is  thought  and  written 
under  the  aristocracies  beyond  the  ocean?" 

Shortly  after  this  address  Channing  published  in  the 
Christian  Examiner,  the  literary  organ  of  the  new  church, 
an  essay  on  The  Life  and  Character  of  Napoleon  Bona- 
parte, and  in  1826  The  Character  and  Writings  of  John 
Milton,  a  powerful  production,  easily  the  superior  of  the 
essay  on  the  same  subject  which  made  Macaulay  famous 
two  years  earlier.  "  The  appearance,"  says  Underwood, 
"of  these  essays  marks  an  era  in  American  letters." 
Emerson  declared  them  "  the  first  specimens  in  this 
country  of  that  large  criticism  which  in  England  had 
given  power  and  fame  to  the  Edinburgh  Review" 


THE  UNITARIAN  LEADERS,  207 

Their  style  is  elegant  yet  simple;  their  judgments 
weighty  and  valuable.  Throughout  they  give  evidence 
of  an  imaginative  power  and  a  cultivated  critical  taste 
of  high  order.  Of  the  same  rank  is  Channing's  essay 
on  Fenelon  and  his  Self-  Culture,  a  work  that  has  proved 
stimulating  to  thousands  of  young  people. 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  Self-Culture  and  the  Essay  on  Milton. 

The  Unitarian  movement  was  aided  by  some  of  the 
most  scholarly  and  eloquent  clergymen  of  the  century. 
Among  these  were  J.  S.  Buckminster  (1784-1812),  a 
classical  scholar  of  high  rank,  who  exerted  an  influence 
on  the  moral  and  intellectual  life  of  New  England 
second  only  to  that  of  Channing ;  Henry  Ware  (1764- 
1845)  ;  his  son  Henry  Ware  (1794-1843),  a  theologian 
and  hymn  writer;  Andrews  Norton  (1786-1853),  a 
strong  and  scholarly  thinker;  and  Orville  Dewey 
(1794-1882),  one  of  the  profoundest  thinkers  of  his 
generation.  Later  on  the  movement  gained  strength 
by  the  accession  of  men  like  Theodore  Parker,  Andrew 
P.  Peabody,  and  James  Freeman  Clarke,  a  voluminous 
writer  on  many  subjects  and  a  leader  among  the  Tran- 
scendentalists. 


XV. 

THE  TRANSCENDENTALISTS  (1). 

EALPH  WALDO  EMERSON  (1803-1882). 

«« The  sage  of  Concord." 

'*  His  teachings  have  become  part  of  the  unconsciously  acquired 
creed  of  every  young  American  of  good  and  gracious  nature."  —  C.  E. 
Norton. 

Life.  —  (The  standard  life  of  Emerson  is  that  by  his 
literary  executor,  J.  Elliot  Cabot.  Dr.  Holmes'  shorter 
sketch  in  the  American  Men  of  Letters  Series,  the  best 
estimate  of  Emerson  that  has  yet  appeared,  is  invaluable 
in  the  class  room.  Among  the  great  mass  of  Emerso- 
niana  may  be  mentioned  Emerson  in  Concord,  by  his 
son,  Dr.  Edward  W.  Emerson ;  the  Carlyle- Enter  son 
Correspondence  ;  Alcott's  Concord  Days  ;  G.  W.  Cooke's 
Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  his  Life,  Writings,  and  Philoso- 
phy;  Guernsey's  Sketch  of  Emerson;  Conway's  Emer- 
son at  Home  and  Abroad ;  Whipple's  Recollections  of 
Eminent  Men,  and  J.  J.  Chapman's  Emerson  and  Other 
Essays,  1898.) 

No  man  was  ever  more  fortunate  in  his  ancestry 
than  was  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson.  On  both  sides,  his 
family  from  early  times  had  been  remarkable  for  its 
college  graduates  and  clergymen,  all  of  them  men  of 
unusual  character  and  force.  His  grandfather,  the  Rev. 


THE  TRANSCENDENTALISTS.  209 

William  Emerson,  served  for  many  years  as  pastor  of 
the  Congregational  Church  in  Concord,  dwelling  in 
the  "  Old  Manse,"  which  had  been  built  for  him  in  1765. 
From  its  windows  the  old  pastor  had  watched  the  fight 
at  Concord  Bridge  scarce  a  bow-shot  away.  On  that 
memorable  April  morning  the  town  had  been  thrown 
into  a  fever  of  excitement  by  the  arrival  of  the  British 
regulars,  some  eight  hundred  strong. 

"At  first  it  was  thought  best  that  our  men  should  face  the 
enemy,  as  few  as  they  were,  and  abide  the  consequences.  Of 
this  opinion,  among  others,  was  the  Rev.  William  Emerson,  the 
clergyman  of  the  town,  who  had  turned  out  amidst  the  first  in  the 
morning  to  animate  and  encourage  his  people  by  his  counsel  and 
patriotic  example.  « Let  us  stand  our  ground,'  said  he ;  « if  we  die, 
let  us  die  here  ! ' "  —  Shattuck's  History  of  Concord. 

William  Emerson,  a  son  of  this  sturdy  Revolutionary 
hero,  after  graduating  at  Harvard  in  1789,  settled  in 
Boston  where,  as  a  prominent  member  of  the  Anthology 
Club  and  pastor  of  the  First  Church,  he  exerted  a  wide 
influence.  Here,  May  25,  1803,  was  born  Ralph  Waldo 
Emerson.  The  early  death  of  the  father,  in  1810,  left 
the  little  family  in  comparative  poverty,  but  by  the 
heroic  exertions  of  the  mother  all  of  the  six  children 
were  enabled  to  obtain  a  good  education. 

By  the  practice  of  the  strictest  economy  Emer- 
son was  able  to  complete  the  course  at  Harvard  in 
1821.  Some  years  later,  having  been  graduated  from 
the  Divinity  School,  he  was  ordained  as  colleague  of 
the  Rev.  Henry  Ware  of  the  Second  Church  in  Bos- 
ton, where  he  labored  faithfully  for  the  next  three 
years. 


210  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

But  Emerson,  although  a  brilliant  preacher,  had  small 
aptitude  for  pastoral  work.  He  had  little  sympathy 
with  much  of  the  church  routine.  He  had  entered  the 
profession  almost  from  necessity,  since  it  was  the  only 
one  at  that  time  which  offered  any  attractions  for  the 
quiet,  scholarly  mind.  In  1832  his  health  was  in  a 
broken  condition.  The  death  of  his  wife  the  year 
before  had  almost  overwhelmed  him.  He  found  him- 
self more  and  more  out  of  sympathy  with  the  church, 
and  accordingly,  after  a  thoughtful  sermon  on  the  Com- 
munion, he  resigned  his  pastorate,  and  the  next  year 
made  a  voyage  to  Europe  on  account  of  his  health, 
though  he  afterwards  wrote :  "  It  was  mainly  the  attrac- 
tion of  three  or  four  writers,  of  whom  Carlyle  was  one, 
that  led  me  to  Europe."  In  Italy  he  found  Walter  Sav- 
age Landor.  In  England  he  met  Coleridge,  De  Quincey, 
Wordsworth,  and  Carlyle.  With  Carlyle,  who  at  this 
time  was  almost  unknown,  Emerson  formed  a  most 
pleasing^rtendship,  one  almost  without  precedent  in  our 
literary  history.  "  I  shall  never  forget  the  visitor,"  said 
Mrs.  Carlyle,  "  who  years  ago  in  the  desert  descended 
on  us  out  of  the  clouds,  as  it  were,  and  made  one  day 
there  look  like  enchantment  for  us,  and  left  me  weeping 
that  it  was  only  one  day."  The  correspondence  between 
Carlyle  and  Emerson,  which  was  continued  during  their 
lifetime,  is  of  the  greatest  value.  Nowhere  else  can  one 
get  so  near  the  real  lives  of  these  two  intellectual 
leaders.  The  correspondence  is  a  strong  connecting 
link  between  the  literatures  of  the  two  nations. 

SUGGESTED  READING. —  The  Carlyle-Emerson  Correspondence. 


THE  TRANSCENDENTALISTS.  211 

Upon  his  return  to  America  Emerson  made  his  first 
appearance  as  a  popular  lecturer.  In  1834  he  removed 
to  Concord,  the  ancestral  home  of  the  family,  living  at 
first. in  the  "  Old  Manse,"  and  in  this  quiet  little  village 
the  rest  of  his  life  was  spent. 

The  life  of  Emerson,  like  that  of  the  scholar  gener- 
e rally,  had  few  striking  incidents.  Aside  from  his 
lecture  tours  and  two  more  visits  to  Europe,  one  in 
1847,  the  other  in  1872,  his  life  was  passed  quietly  in 
his  rural  home.  There  can  be  no  better  picture  of  his 
private  life  than  that  drawn  by  his  own  pen  in  a  letter 
to  Carlyle  dated  May  10,  1838. 

"  I  occupy,  or  improve,  as  we  Yankees  say,  two  acres  only  of 
God's  earth ;  011  which  is  my  house,  my  kitchen  garden,  my  orchard 
of  thirty  young  trees,  my  empty  barn.  My  house  is  now  a  very 
good  one  for  comfort  and  abounding  in  room.  Besides  my  house 
I  have,  I  believe,  $22,000,  whose  income  in  ordinary  years  is  six 
per  cent.  I  have  no  other  tithe  or  glebe  except  the  income  of  my 
winter  lectures  which  was  last  winter  $  800.  Well,  with  this  in- 
come, here  at  home  I  am  a  rich  man.  I  stay  at  home,  and  go 
abroad,  at  my  own  instance.  I  have  food,  warmth,  leisure,  books, 
friends.  Go  away  from  home,  I  am  rich  no  longer.  I  never  have 
a  dollar  to  spend  on  a  fancy.  As  no  wise  man,  I  suppose,  ever  was 
rich  in  the  sense  of  freedom  to  spend,  because  of  the  inundations  of 
claims,  so  neither  am  I,  who  am  not  wise.  But  at  home  I  am  rich, 
—  rich  enough  for  ten  brothers. 

"  My  wife  Lidian  is  an  incarnation  of  Christianity,  —  I  call  her 
Asia,  —  and  keeps  my  philosophy  from  Antinomianism ;  my 
mother,  —  whitest,  mildest,  most  conservative  of  ladies,  whose  only 
exception  to  her  universal  preference  for  old  things  is  her  son; 
my  boy  a  piece  of  love  and  sunshine,  well  worth  my  watching  from 
morning  to  night ;  these  and  three  domestic  women  who  cook  and 
sew  and  run  for  us,  make  all  our  household.  Here  I  sit  and  read 
and  write,  with  very  little  system,  and  as  far  as  regards  composi- 
tion, with  the  most  fragmentary  result :  paragraphs  incompressible, 
each  sentence  an  infinitely  repellent  particle. 


212  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

"  In  summer,  with  the  aid  of  a  neighbor,  I  manage  my  garden ; 
and  a  week  ago  I  set  out,  on  the  west  side  of  my  house,  forty  young 
pine  trees  to  protect  me,  or  my  son,  from  the  wind  of  January. 
The  ornament  of  the  place  is  the  occasional  presence  of  some  ten  or 
twelve  persons,  good  and  wise,  who  visit  us  in  the  course  of  the 
year." 

As  the  years  went  by,  the  home  of  Emerson  became 
the  literary  centre  of  America.  Margaret  fuller  and 
The  Dial  group  often  met  there ;  Thoreau  was  a  daily 
visitor;  Alcott  and  Hawthorne  were  near  neighbors, 
while  all  the  prominent  authors  of  America,  and  dis- 
tinguished guests  from  every  land,  found  entertainment 
under  its  hospitable  roof. 

Emerson's  working  life  ended  in  1867.  The  year 
before  he  had  written  the  sad  sweet  poem  "  Terminus," 
which  was,  in  a  sense,  his  valedictory  to  the  world. 
His  memory  gradually  failed  him.  He  delighted  to 
read,  but  he  immediately  forgot  all  as  soon  as  he  had 
laid  the  book  aside.  "My  memory  hides  itself,"  he 
said ;  yet,  assisted  by  his  daughter  Ellen,  he  continued 
to  lecture  almost  to  the  time  of  his  death.  Fully  con- 
scious as  he  was  of  his  failing  powers,  he  did  not  com- 
plain, though  a  few  months  before  his  death  he  made 
the  sad  remark  "  when  one's  wits  begin  to  leave  him  it  is 
time  the  heavens  opened  and  took  him  to  themselves." 

He  died  in  April,  1882,  and  was  buried  in  the  Sleepy 
Hollow  Cemetery  at  Concord,  under  the  same  pines 
beneath  which  rest  Hawthprne  and  Thoreau. 

Nature.  —  The  little  book  Nature,  written  in  the 
"  Old  Manse  "  and  published  in  September,  1836,  — 
Emerson's  first  real  message  to  the  world,  —  remains 


THE   TRANSCENDENTALISTS.  213 

the  most  intense  of  all  his  writings.  Although  it  met 
with  an  indifferent  reception,  selling  in  twelve  years 
only  five  hundred  copies,  it  was,  nevertheless,  an  epoch- 
making  book.  It  is  vague  and  incomprehensible  to  the 
practical  mind;  it  soars  at  times  into  regions  where 
only  a  few  can  follow,  but  it  opens  a  new  vista  to 
those  who  can  understand  it.  Starting  with  the  as-~1 
sumption  that  the  universe  is  composed  of  Nature  and 
the  Soul,  Emerson  considers  their  relations,  and  the 
ministry  of  nature  to  the  senses ;  the  office  of  love  and 
beauty ;  the  derivation  of  languages  from  nature  and 
the  influence  of  nature  upon  the  intellect,  the  moral 
sense,  and  the  will.  As  he  proceeds,  he  falls  more  and 
more  into  the  language  of  rhapsody.  He  dwells  upon 
the  principles  of  Idealism,  expressing  doubts  as  to  the 
existence  of  matter,  thus  planting  the  first  seeds  of 
Transcendentalism ;  he  shows  that  natural  and  spiritual 
laws  are  identical,  and  discusses  the  problems  of  neces- 
sity and  human  freedom,  aiming  a  blow  at  Calvinism. 
"It  fell  like  an  aerolite,"  says  Holmes,  "unasked  for, 
unaccounted  for,  unexpected,  almost  unwelcome,  —  a 
stumbling-block  to  be  got  out  of  the  well-trodden  high- 
way of  New  England  scholastic  intelligence*"  The  date 
of  its  publication  may  be  taken  as  the  opening  of  a  new 
era  in  American  thought. 

Just  one  year  after  the  publication  of  Nature,  Emerson 
delivered  the  oration  before  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society 
of  Cambridge,  on  "Man  Thinking  or  the  American 
Scholar."  In  this  oration  he  touched  again  upon  the 
leading  points  of  his  essay  Nature,  but  with  none  of 


214  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

the  vagueness  and  mysticism  of  that  work.  One  critic 
declares  that  in  it  nearly  all  of  Emerson's  leading  ideas 
found  expression.  Its  effect  was  electrical.  In  the 
words  of  Lowell,  "  It  was  an  event  without  any  former 
parallel  in  our  literary  annals  —  a  scene  to  be  always 
treasured  in  the  memory  for  its  picturesqueness  and 
its  inspiration.  What  crowded  and  breathless  aisles  ! 
What  windows  clustering  with  eager  heads  !  "  Dr. 
Holmes  called  it  "our  intellectual  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence." 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "  The  American  Scholar." 
Emerson's  Essays.  —  Nearly  all  of  Emerson's  prose 
work  was  first  given  to  the  public  in  the  form  of  lect- 
ures. He  was  pre-eminently  a  lecturer,  never  once 
in  all  his  writings  forgetting  that  he  was  addressing 
an  audience.  After  tiring  of  one  lecture,  he  would  lay 
it  aside  and  begin  another.  When  enough  had  col- 
lected to  make  a  small  volume,  he  would  revise  and 
polish  them  with  care  and  in  due  time  give  them  to 
the  world  in  book  form. 

The  most  of  Emerson's  essays  have  single  words  for 
titles.  Often  the  subject  is  only  a  starting-point  from 
Essays,  First  which  the  author  makes  excursions  into 

rich  fields"     A11  of  hi*  work  is 


Series.  1844.  discursive  in  its  nature,  so  much  so  that 

Representative 

Men.  1850.  one  can  find  a  thought  from  him  on  almost 

Conduct  of  Life.  ^Q^  subject  imaginable.      His  sentences 

Society  and  are  well-nigh  perfect  in  form,  yet  they  do 

Solitude.    1870.  '  J  J 

Letters  and  not  always  yield  their  meaning  without  a 

Social  Aims.  ,   ,  ,  .  ,  »  .  ,  , 

1875.  mental  struggle  on  the  part  of  the  reader, 


THE   TRANSCENDENTALISTS.  215 

nor  did  Emerson  intend  that  they  should.  To  read  him 
intelligently  one  must  think,  and  think  carefully.  Em- 
erson's essays  teach  the  reader  mental  alertness;  they 
lead  him  into  new  fields  where  he  must  shift  for  himself; 
they  open  new  vistas  and  furnish  new  ideas.  More 
young  men  and  women  have  learned  to  think  through 
the  influence  of  Emerson  than  through  that  of  any  other 
modern  writer. 

REQUIRED  READING.  — "Self-Reliance,"  "Friendship,"  "Man- 
ners," "Compensation,"  "History,"  "Character." 

Representative  Men.  —  In  1847  Emerson  made  a  lect- 
ure tour  through  the  principal  cities  of  England,  and 
three  years  later  he  selected  seven  of  these  lectures  to 
be  published  under  the  title  Representative  Men.  These 
were,  in  order,  "  The  Uses  of  Great  Men "  ;  "  Plato,  or 
the  Philosopher "  ;  "  Swedenborg,  or  the  Mystic "  ; 
"  Montaigne,  or  the  Skeptic  " ;  "  Shakespeare,  or  the 
Poet "  ;  "  Napoleon,  or  the  Man  of  the  World "  ;  and 
"  Goethe,  or  the  Writer." 

This  book  should  be  read  in  connection  with  Carlyle's 
Heroes  and  Hero-WorsMp.  Nowhere  else  have  we  such 
good  ground  for  a  comparison  between  the  two  authors, 
for  here  both  were  on  the  same  ground.  Like  Carlyle, 
Emerson  delighted  in  men  of  power,  in  masters  of  the  sit- 
uation, in  masters  of  men.  But  the  list  of  heroes  chosen 
by  each  is  characteristic.  Swedenborg  and  Montaigne 
would  have  been  the  last  men  chosen  by  Carlyle, 
who  seems  to  have  chosen  his  heroes  —  Mahomet, 
Dante,  Luther,  Burns,  Cromwell  —  on  account  of  their 
positiveness,  their  sincerity  to  a  great  principle.  No- 


216  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

where  else  do  Emerson's  prejudices  and  opinions  show 
forth  more  clearly.  The  book  may  be  regarded  as  his 
strongest  and  most  characteristic  work. 

Like  Hawthorne,  Emerson  succeeded  in  producing  a 
bright  and  readable  book  of  his  impressions  of  English 
life  and  character.  This  work,  which  appeared  in  1850 
under  the  title  ^English  Traits,  does  not  attempt,  like  a 
guide-book,  to  give  a  consecutive  account  of  its  author's 
journeyings.  It  is  rather  the  note-book  of  an  observer 
and  thinker,  —  full  of  skilful  touches  and  thoughtful 
deductions.  No  more  fearless  and  faithful  characteriza- 
tion of  the  English  people  has  ever  been  written  by  an 
American.  Aside  from  a  few  of  his  poems,  like  "  Good 
Bye,"  "  To  Ellen,"  "  Walden,"  "  Dirge,"  "  Threnody," 
and  "Terminus,"  English  Traits  is  the  only  autobio- 
graphical fragment  from  Emerson's  pen. 

Emerson's  Prose  Style.  —  (Lowell's  My  Study  Win- 
dows ;  Birrell's  Obiter  Dicta,  Series  II. ;  Morley's  Critical 
Miscellanies  ;  Stedman,  V. ;  Richardson,  I.,  330-370 ; 
Curtis'  Literary  and  Social  Essays.")  Emerson's  style 
may  be  characterized  by  the  word  epigrammatic.  His 
essays  are  collections  of  brilliant,  often  aphoristic,  sen- 
tences, joined  loosely  together.  One  may  open  his 
books  at  random,  and  almost  without  fail  alight  upon 
a  sentence  that  might  stand  alone.  Upon  his  sentences 
Emerson  expended  the  most  painstaking  toil,  polishing 
them  as  a  lapidary  does  a  gem.  He  chose  his  words  with 
minutest  care,  weighing  each  one  and  always  choosing 
the  one  best  fitted  to  express  his  precise  thought.  He 
was  a  master  of  condensation ;  his  sentences  are  "  incom- 


THE   TRANSGENDENTALISTS.  217 

pressible."  But  where  Emerson  was  weak  was  in  com- 
bining power.  His  essays  are  mosaics.  They  read  often, 
as  an  English  critic  once  said,  as  if  their  sentences 
had  been  drawn  at  random  from  a  hat  and  patched 
together.  Emerson  himself  once  confessed :  "  In  writing 
my  thoughts  I  seek  no  order  or  harmony  or  result.  I 
am  not  careful  to  see  how  they  comport  with  other 
thoughts  and  other  moods.  I  trust  them  for  that." 

It  is  interesting  to  know  Emerson's  methods  of  com- 
position. It  was  his  practice 

"  When  a  sentence  had  taken  shape,  to  write  it  out  in  his  jour- 
nal, and  leave  it  to  find  its  fellows  afterwards.  These  journals, 
paged  and  indexed,  were  the  quarry  from  which  he  built  his 
lectures  and  essays.  When  he  had  a  paper  to  get  ready,  he  took 
the  material  collected  under  the  particular  heading,  and  added 
whatever  suggested  itself  at  the  moment.  The  proportion  thus 
added  seems  to  have  varied  considerably ;  it  was  large  in  the  early 
time,  say  to  about  1846,  and  sometimes  very  small  in  the  later 
essays."  —  Cabot's  Emerson. 

But  when  the  critic  of  Emerson's  prose  style  has  com- 
plained of  the  want  of  arrangement  6f  the  essays  and 
the  lack  of  coherence  between  the  part^,  he  has  gener- 
ally very  little  more  to  add.  T.  W.  Higginson,  after 
observing  that  "  some  of  his  essays  are  like  accidental 
collections  of  loose  leaves  from  a  note-book,"  makes 
haste  to  say,  "As  one  makes  this  criticism,  one  is 
shamed  into  silence  by  remembering  many  a  passage 
of  prose  and  verse  so  majestic  in  thought  and  rhythm, 
of  quality  so  rare  and  utterance  so  delicious,  as  to  form 
a  permanent  addition  to  the  highest  literature  of  the  hu- 
man race  " ;  and  Lowell,  our  greatest  literary  critic,  once 


218  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

wrote :  "  A  diction  at  once  so  rich  and  homely  as  his, 
I  know  not  where  to  match  in  these  days  of  writing  by 
the  page ;  it  is  like  homespun  cloth  of  gold.  The  many 
cannot  miss  its  meaning,  and  only  the  few  can  find  it." 
Emerson  as  a  Poet.  —  (Stedman,  Ch.  V. ;  Richardson, 
II.  137-171;  Whipple's  American  Literature ;  Joel 
Benton's  JEmerson  as  a  Poet;  Burroughs'  Birds  and 
Poets.)  Though  Emerson's  influence  was  exerted 
mainly  through  his  prose,  he  wrote  enough  poems  to 
make  a  good-sized  volume,  and  by  many  he  is  consid- 
ered to  be  our  greatest  poet.  "  If  he  is  a  poet,"  says 
one  critic,  "  he  is  our  greatest  poet,"  but  whether  or  not 
he  is  a  poet  depends  upon  the.  definition  of  the  terms 
"  poet "  and  "  poetry,"  and  every  one  may  insist  on  his 
own  definition.  Dr.  Holmes,  than  whom  no  other  is 
more  competent  to  judge,  thus  describes  Emerson's 
poetical  limitations: 

"  Full  of  poetic  feeling  and  with  a  strong  desire  for  poetical  ex- 
pression, Emerson  experienced  a  difficulty  in  the  mechanical  part  of 
metrical  composition.  His  Muse  picked  her  way  as  his  speech  did 
in  conversation  and  in  lecturing.  He  made  desperate  work  now 
and  then  with  rhyme  and  rhythm,  showing  that  though  a  born 
poet  he  was  not  a  born  singer.  Think  of  making  ' feeble '  rhyme 
with  i people,'  'abroad'  with  'Lord,'  and  contemplate  the  fol- 
lowing couplet  which  one  cannot  make  rhyme  without  actual 
verbicide : 

*  Where  feeds  the  moose  and  walks  the  surly  bear 
And  up  the  tall  mast  runs  the  woodpeck-are.' " 

His  verses  are  often  fragmentary  in  style,  like  his 
prose ;  sometimes  they  have  a  simple,  monotonous  ca- 
dence like  the  note  of  a  forest  bird ;  many  of  them  are 


THE  TRANSCENDENTALISTS.  219 

little  oracular  sayings  of  a  single  thought,  where  the 
thought  is  perfect,  but  the  vehicle  homely  and  awk- 
ward. The  greater  number  of  his  poems  deal  with 
themes  of  the  loftiest  kind.  The  average  reader  sees 
not  the  least  sense  in  "Brahma,"  "The  Over  Soul," 
and  "Hamatreya,"  which  are  so  packed  with  thought 
that  to  the  thoughtless  they  seem  mere  nonsense. 

But  after  criticising  his  sense  of  melody  and  his  occa- 
sional mysticism,  the  reader  of  Emerson's  poems  has 
little  ground  left  for  accusation.  No  one  can  deny 
that  he  had  a  brilliant  imagination,  a  sensitive  sense  of 
beauty,  and  keen  poetic  insight.  Even  his  prose  is  full 
of  poetry. 

He  used  the  poetic  form  sparingly  and  only  for  his 
most  perfect  thoughts.  He  spoke  ever  in  verse  when 
he  wished  to  speak  at  his  best.  No  one  can  know  the 
purest  and  most  ethereal  part  of  Emerson's  domain 
until  he  has  lived  for  a  season  with  Emerson's  poems. 
He  is  not  always  inartistic  and  obscure.  Many  of  his 
poems  are  as  clear  as  light,  and  as  musical  as  any  in  the 
language.  "The  Snow  Storm,"  " The  Humble  Bee," 
"  The  Rhodora,"  and  "  Concord  Hymn,"  judged  by  any 
standard  whatever,  are  well-nigh  perfect.  The  "  Concord 
Hymn,"  sung  at  the  dedication  of  the  battle  monument, 
April  19,  1836,  is  in  itself  enough  to  place  its  author  in 
the  front  rank  of  poets. 

REQUIRED  HEADING.  — u The  Rhodora,"  "The  Humble  Bee," 
"  The  Snow  Storm,"  "  Brahma,"  «  Concord  Hymn." 

The  Influence  of  Emerson.  —  No  other  writer  has  done 
more  for  the  independence  of  American  thought.  "  We 


220  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

were,"  said  Lowell,  "still  socially  and  intellectually 
moored  to  English  thought  till  Emerson  cut  the  cable 
and  gave  us  a  chance  at  the  dangers  and  glories  of 
blue  water."  His  impress  is  upon  much  of  the  best  lit- 
erature of  our  times.  Many  who  are  now  intellectual 
leaders  first  learned  to  think  from  perusing  his  pages. 
Upon  the  circle  of  his  friends,  who  listened  to  his  words 
as  to  those  of  a  sage,  Emerson's  influence  was  very  great. 

"  One  had  to  be  more  than  human  to  remain  in  the  presence  of 
such  a  nature  and  not  betray  the  fact.  Thoreau  felt  the  perilous 
singling  until  his  tones  and  his  mode  of  speaking  caught  the  trick 
of  Emerson  so  nearly  that  the  two  men  could  hardly  be  separated 
in  conversation.  What  wonder  that  Channing,  Bartol,  Alcott,  and 
the  rest,  strong  and  stately  men,  .  .  .  felt,  to  some  slight  deflection 
of  their  orbit,  the  unintentional,  if  not  unconscious,  attraction  of 
the  mild  Jupiter  so  near  them.  Hawthorne  and  Margaret  Fuller 
fled  and  saved  themselves,  but  even  they  betrayed  during  their 
Concord  residence  a  faint  Emersonian  adumbration.  The  fact  is, 
no  one  meeting  Emerson  was  ever  the  same  again.  His  natural 
force  was  so  restless  and  so  imperceptible  that  it  commanded  men 
before  they  were  aware.  .  .  .  Concord  contained,  during  Emer- 
son's solstitial  years,  a  great  lighthouse,  shining  far  and  wide,  and 
showing  many  ships  their  goal,  but  covered  with  the  shreds  of 
wrecked  barks  which  had  been  attracted  by  its  clear,  cold,  solitary 
flame."  —  Charles  J.  Woodbury. 


XVI. 

THE  TRANSCENDENTALISTS  (2). 

HENRY  DAVID  THOREAU  (1817-1862). 

"The  poet  naturalist." 

"  A  Yankee  Stoic,  holding  fast  the  most  lofty  ideals,  and  aiming 
always  to  reduce  life  to  its  simplest  terms."  —  Burroughs. 

Life. —  (The  standard  life  is  Sanborn's,  American  Men 
of  Letters  Series ;  the  best  short  study  is  Emerson's 
Memoir.  See  also  Emerson's  "  Woodnotes "  ;  John 
Burroughs'  Indoor  Studies  ;  Lowell's  Among  My  Books  ; 
H.  A.  Page's  Thoreau:  his  Life  and  Aims;  W.  E.  Chan- 
ning's  Thoreau  :  the  Poet  Naturalist ;  Salt's  Life,  Great 
Writers  Series  ;  Stevenson's  Familiar  Studies  ;  and  S.  A. 
Jones's  Bibliography.  The  greater  part  of  Thoreau's 
writings  are  autobiographical  in  their  nature,  and  from 
them  alone  a  complete  outline  of  his  life-work  and  char- 
acter may  be  drawn.) 

Of  the  remarkable  group  of  writers  that  made  of 
Concord  a  literary  centre  during  the  age  of  Emerson, 
Thoreau  alone  was  a  native  of  the  town.  No  one  of  the 
others  identified  himself  so  completely  with  the  little 
village.  To  him  Concord  was  the  centre  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  from  this  standpoint  he  looked  out  upon  the 
world  and  its  history.  It  pleased  him  to  believe  that 
all  the  phenomena  of  nature,  from  the  tropics  to  the 

221 


222  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

pole,  could  be  observed  about  the  shores  of  Walden 
Pond. 

The  suiTOundings  of  Thoreau's  boyhood,  like  those  of 
the  poet  Whittier,  were  unliterary  and  unencouraging. 
His  father,  a  retired  merchant  of  small  means,  who  was 
earning  a  scanty  income  at  the  somewhat  unusual  trade 
of  lead-pencil  making,  could  give  his  children  no 
luxuries.  And  yet,  through  the  strictest  economy, 
Thoreau  was  able  to  attend  the  village  school  of  Con- 
cord and  later  even  to  enter  Harvard  University,  where 
he  was  graduated  in  1837,  "but,"  as  Emerson  says, 
"without  any  literary  distinction."  With  character- 
istic independence  he  neglected  all  studies  that  he 
deemed  unimportant,  thoroughly  mastering,  however, 
all  that  in  any  way  appealed  to  his  taste.  He  cared 
nothing  for  honors,  even  refusing  at  last  to  take  his 
diploma,  declaring  it  not  worth  the  five  dollars. 

After  leaving  college  he  taught  for  a  time  in  the 
academy  at  Concord,  and  soon  afterward  applied  him- 
self to  the  mastering  of  his  father's  craft ;  but  having 
learned  at  last  to  make  a  perfect  pencil,  he  declared  he 
would  make  no  more.  Emerson,  alluding  to  this  period, 
says  that  Thoreau  now  "  resumed  his  endless  walks  and 
miscellaneous  studies,  making  every  day  some  new 
acquaintance  with  nature,  though  as  yet  never  speak- 
ing of  zoology  or  botany,  since,  though  very  studious  of 
natural  facts,  he  was  incurious  of  technical  and  textual 


science." 


The  story  of  these  "  endless  walks  "  is  the  story  of 
the  rest  of  Thoreau's  life.     He  entered  no  profession. 


THE  TRANSGENDENTALISTS.  223 

The  little  money  that  he  needed  he  earned  by  land 
surveying,  gardening,  and  fence  building,  but,  whatever 
his  occupation,  he  managed,  winter  and  summer,  to 
spend  half  at  least  of  every  day  in  the  woods  and 
fields.  The  only  variations  in  his  life  were  when  he 
gave  an  occasional  lecture  or  made  an  excursion  to 
the  Maine  woods,  to  Canada,  or  Cape  Cod,  from  which 
he  returned  with  a  sigh  of  relief  to  his  native  Walden. 

A  Week  on  the  Concord  and  Merrimac  Rivers.  —  Two 
years  after  his  graduation  from  Harvard,  Thoreau,  ac- 
companied by  his  brother  John,  made,  in  a  small  boat 
of  their  own  construction,  a  voyage  on  the  Concord 
and  Merrimac  rivers.  From  this  experience  grew  his 
first  book,  published  ten  years  later. 

"  The  book  is  an  account  of  a  voyage  on  far  other  and  larger 
rivers  than  those  named  in  the  title.  The  rows  down  the  Concord 
and  Merrimac  but  furnish  the  occasion  for  the  author  to  launch 
forth  upon  diverse  streams  of  opinion  and  speculation,  in  religion, 
literature,  and  philosophy.  The  *  Week '  is  really  a  collection  of 
essays  tied  together  by  a  slight  thread  of  travel.  It  is  not  very 
readable,  though  it  contains  some  of  Thoreau's  best  prose  and 
poetry.  But  the  two  elements  he  has  put  into  it  do  not  go  well 
together.  A  book  of  travels  is  a  book  of  adventure  and  observation, 
and  the  reader  does  not  like  to  be  detained  by  long  dissertations 
upon  entirely  irrelevant  subjects.  The  temptation  to  skip  them 
and  be  off  down  stream  with  the  voyagers  is  almost  irresistible." 
—  John  Burroughs. 

As  the  book  did  not  sell,  the  publishers  sent  to  the 
author  nearly  the  whole  edition.  It  was  then  that  he 
made  the  remark  that  he  had  a  library  of  nine  hundred 
volumes,  seven  hundred  of  which  he  had  written  him- 
self. 


224  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Walden.  —  Thoreau's  life  has  been  called  a  sermoh 
from  Emerson's  text,  "  Lessen  your  denominator."  In 
an  age  of  extravagance  and  waste,  he  showed  to  the 
world  how  few  the  real  wants  of  humanity  are.  But, 
like  many  reformers,  he  carried  his  views  to  an  extreme. 
He  condemned  the  complex  machinery  of  society ;  he 
refused  to  pay  his  tax  and  was  put  into  jail  in  conse- 
quence ;  he  never  voted,  never  went  to  church ;  he 
determined  to  get  at  the  elementary  conditions  of 
existence  and  to  strip  himself  of  everything  not  ab- 
solutely essential.  With  this  end  in  view,  Thoreau, 
in  1845,  built  with  his  own  hands  a  small  house  on 
the  shore  of  Walden  Pond,  a  short  distance  from 
Concord,  and  there  he  lived  in  solitude  for  two  years 
and  two  months,  his  expenses  for  the  time  being  168.76, 
or  about  nine  cents  a  day. 

While  this  was,  as  Thoreau  intended  it  to  be,  a  ser- 
mon on  economy,  a  rebuke  to  the  extravagant  demands 
of  the  age,  it  did  not,  by  any  means,  attack  the  deep 
foundations  upon  which  society  rests.  No  one  can  ut- 
terly ignore  the  demands  of  civilization  without  becom- 
ing a  wild  beast  or  a  savage.  Thoreau,  even  in  his  hut 
at  Walden,  was  holden  in  a  thousand  ways  to  society. 

"He  squatted  on  another  man's  land;  he  borrows  an  axe;  his 
boards,  his  nails,  his  bricks,  his  mortar,  his  books,  his  lamp,  his 
fish-hooks,  his  plough,  his  hoe,  all  turn  state's  evidence  against  him 
as  an  accomplice  in  the  sin  of  that  artificial  civilization  which  ren- 
dered it  possible  that  such  a  man  as  Henry  D.  Thoreau  should 
exist  at  all."  —  Lowell. 

Walden,  which  contains  a  minute  account  of  the  two 
years  at  Walden  Pond,  is  Thoreau's  best  book  It  is 


THE   TRANSGENDENTALISTS.  225 

full  of  the  wild  aroma  of  the  woods.  In  no  other  book 
can  one  come  so  close  to  Nature's  heart.  We  hear  in  it 
the  weird  cry  of  the  loons  over  the  water;  we  watch 
the  frolics  of  the  squirrels;  we  observe  the  thousand 
phenomena  of  the  wonderful  little  lake;  we  listen  to 
the  forest  sounds  by  day  and  by  night;  we  study  the 
tell-tale  snow ;  we  watch,  with  bated  breath,  a  battle 
to  the  death  between  two  armies  of  ants.  For  minute 
and  loving  descriptions  of  the  woods  and  fields,  Walden 
has  had  no  rival. 

Thoreau  began  to  keep  a  journal  as  early  as  1835,  and 
throughout  the  rest  of  his  life  it  was  his  custom  to 
record  with  minute  care  the  thoughts  and  Excursions  in 
observations  of  each  day.     As  a  result,  he 
left  at  his  death  thirty  manuscript  volumes 
which  tell  the  complete  story  of  his  life.   Cape  Cod. 
Only  the  two  books  mentioned  above  were  ^Tplrso 
published  during  his  lifetime,  but  since  his  -£  Yankee  in 

Canada. 

death  these  journals  have  been  drawn  upon  Early  Spring  in 
for  eight  volumes  more,  and  without  doubt  summer. 
other  volumes  may  yet  appear.     Of  these    Winter. 
The  Maine  Woods  and   Cape   Cod  contain  some  of  his 
freshest  and  most  agreeable  work. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Walden,  and  The  Maine  Woods. 

His  Nearness  to  Nature.  —  Thoreau  combined  the  fine 
instincts  and  the  woodcraft  of  the  Indian  with  the  eye 
and  brain  of  the  philosopher.  He  knew  every  square  rod 
of  the  Concord  woods.  He  knew  Walden  Pond  and  the 
hills  about  it  as  a  farmer  knows  his  kitchen  garden.  He 
had  studied  them  for  years,  both  by  day  and  night. 


226  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

u  It  was  a  pleasure  and  privilege  to  walk  with  him.  He  knew 
the  country  like  a  fox  or  a  bird,  and  passed  through  it  as  freely  by 
paths  of  his  own.  He  knew  every  track  in  the  snow,  or  on  the 
ground,  and  what  creature  had  taken  this  path  before  him.  One 
must  submit  abjectly  to  such  a  guide,  and  the  reward  was  great. 
Under  his  arm  he  carried  an  old  music  book  to  press  plants;  in  his 
pocket  his  diary  and  pencil,  a  spyglass  for  birds,  microscope,  jack- 
knife,  and  twine.  .  .  .  On  the  day  I  speak  of  he  looked  for  the 
Menyanthes,  detected  it  across  the  wide  pool,  and,  on  examination 
of  the  florets,  decided  that  it  had  been  in  flower  five  days.  He 
drew  out  of  his  breast  pocket  his  diary,  and  read  the  names  of  all 
the  plants  that  should  bloom  on  this  day,  whereof  he  kept  account 
as  a  banker  when  his  notes  fall  due.  The  Cypripedium  not  due  till 
to-morrow.  He  thought  that  if  he  waked  up  from  a  trance  in  this 
swamp,  he  could  tell  by  the  plants  what  time  of  the  year  it  was 
within  two  days.  ...  He  saw  as  with  microscope,  heard  as  with 
ear-trumpet,  and  his  memory  was  a  photographic  register  of  all 
he  saw  and  heard.  .  .  .  His  intimacy  with  animals  suggested 
what  Thomas  Fuller  records  of  Butler  the  apiologist,  that  'either 
he  had  told  the  bees  things,  or  the  bees  had  told  him.'  Snakes 
coiled  round  his  leg;  the  fishes  swam  into  his  hand,  and  he  took 
them  out  of  the  water;  he  pulled  the  woodchuck  out  of  its  hole  by 
the  tail,  and  took  the  foxes  under  his  protection  from  the  hunt- 
ers."—  Emerson. 

His  Prose  Style. — Thoreau  showed  in  a  very  marked 
degree  the  influence  of  Emerson.  His  biographer,  who 
knew  him  personally,  says  that  he  imitated  Emerson's 
tones  and  manners  so  that  it  was  annoying  to  listen  to 
him.  Unconsciously  he  acquired  Emerson's  style  of 
writing.  He  became  a  master  of  the  short,  epigrammatic 
sentence.  Yet  there  is  often  a  rudeness  and  an  inartis- 
tic carelessness  about  Thoreau's  style  that  is  not  at  all 
like  Emerson.  No  one  has  ever  excelled  him  in  the 
field  of  minute  description.  His  acute  powers  of  obser- 
vation, his  ability  to  keep  for  a  long  time  his  attention 


THE  TRANSCENDENTALISTS.  227 

upon  one  thing,  and  his  love  of  nature  and  of  solitude, 
all  lend  a  distinct  individuality  to  his  style. 

But  while  Thoreau  was  to  a  certain  degree  stamped 
by  the  more  powerful  mind  of  Emerson,  it  is  certain 
that  the  latter  was  much  influenced  by  Thoreau.  Emer- 
son was  blind  to  less  obvious  processes  of  nature  until 
Thoreau  opened  his  eyes.  Thus  it  was  with  all  who 
came  in  contact  with  this  prophet  of  the  woods  and 
fields.  It  has  been  Thoreau's  mission  to  open  blind 
eyes,  to  show  the  tragedies,  the  comedies,  the  things  of 
beauty,  the  marvels  and  the  mysteries,  that  lie  about 
each  one  of  us  in  field  and  forest,  unseen  until  we  learn 
to  see  them.  He  was  the  parent  of  the  out-of-door 
school  of  writers  represented  by  John  Burroughs,  Frank 
Bolles,  Bradford  Torrey,  Olive  Thome  Miller,  Maurice 
Thompson,  Ernest  Thompson  Seton,  and  many  others. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Emerson's  "  Woednotes." 


XVII. 
THE  TRANSCENDENTALISTS  (3). 

THE  DIAL  GROUP. 
AMOS  BKONSON  ALCOTT  (1799-1888). 

"  A  pure  idealist,  not  at  all  a  man  of  letters,  nor  of  any  practical 
talent,  nor  a  writer  of  books  ;  a  man  quite  too  cold  and  contemplative 
for  the  alliances  of  friendship,  with  rare  simplicity  and  grandeur  of 
perception,  who  read  Plato  as  an  equal,  and  inspired  his  companions 
only  in  proportion  as  they  were  intellectual."  — Emerson. 

A  UNIQUE  figure  in  an  age  of  singular  personalities 
was  Amos  Bronson  Alcott,  perhaps  the  most  perfect 
representative  of  Transcendentalism.  He  was  a  mystic 
and  a  man  of  visions.  In  his  ideas  of  reform  he  went 
farther  than  any  of  his  companions.  He  remained  a 
vegetarian  all  his  life ;  he  denounced  the  use  of  animal 
manures  in  agriculture  ;  he  insisted  for  a  time  that  only 
white  clothes  should  be  worn;  he  devoted  himself  to 
several  sweeping  reforms  in  education  and  religion,  and 
he  attempted  to  found  on  his  own  responsibility  a  com- 
munity like  that  at  Brook  Farm,  where  he  might  carry 
into  practice  his  ideas  of  social  and  moral  reform. 

It  was  principally  through  the  efforts  of  Alcott  that 
the  Transcendental  Club  was  formed  in  1836,  an  organi- 
zation that  held  meetings  at  irregular  intervals  until 
as  late  as  1850.  Upon  its  roll  were  such  names  as 

228 


THE   TRANSCENDENTALISTS.  229 

Dr.  Charming,  Emerson,  Ripley,  Alcott,  Margaret  Fuller, 
Theodore  Parker,  George  Bancroft,  Dr.  Hedge,  C.  A. 
Bartol,  O.  A.  Brownson,  Miss  E.  P.   Peabody,  C.  P. 
Cranch,  Dr.  Follen,  James  Freeman  Clarke,  Tablets.  1868. 
W.  H.  Channing,  and  others.     From  this  Concord  Days. 
club  grew  The  Dial.  Table  Talk. 

Like  Margaret  Fuller,  Alcott  is  remem-  sonnets  and 
bered  more   from  his  influence  upon  his  Canzonets,  im. 
contemporaries  than  from  his  writings.     As  a  conversa- 
tionalist he  has  had  few  superiors.     Lowell,  in  his  Fable 
for  Critics,  says  : 

"  And  indeed,  I  believe,  no  man  ever  talked  better. 
Each  sentence  hangs  perfectly  poised  to  a  letter ; 
He  seems  piling  words,  but  there's  royal  dust  hid 
In  the  heart  of  each  sky-piercing  pyramid. 
While  he  talks  he  is  great,  but  goes  out  like  a  taper 
If  you  shut  him  up  closely  with  pen,  ink,  and  paper." 

He  travelled  widely  at  one  time,  giving  "  Conversa- 
tions," as  he  chose  to  call  his  lectures,  and  with  these 
he  gained  a  wide  circle  of  admirers.  His  first  writings, 
which  were  contributed  to  The  Dial  under  the  title  of 
"  Orphic  Sayings,"  are  obscure  in  the  extreme,  —  Emer- 
son's "  Brahma  "  is  sun-clear  compared  with  them.  His 
volumes  are  fragmentary  and  without  great  value,  al- 
though Concord  Days  gives  now  and  then  a  charming 
glimpse  of  Emerson  and  his  circle.  His  last  volume, 
published  in  his  eightieth  year,  is  made  up  of  personal 
poems  written  to  or  about  his  various  friends. 

His  daughter,  Louisa  May  Alcott  (1832-1888),  wrote 
many  charming  books  for  young  people.  Her  first  sue- 


230  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

cess  was  with  Hospital  Notes,  a  collection  of  her  letters 
written  during  her  life  as  an  army  nurse.  These  at 
once  moved  the  popular  heart  in  the  North,  and  when, 
in  1867,  her  Little  Women  appeared,  her  name  at  once 
became  a  household  word  in  America.  Among  her 
numerous  other  books  may  be  mentioned  An  Old- 
Fashioned  G-irl,  1869 ;  Little  Men,  1871 ;  and  Spinning- 
Wheel  Stories,  1884.  (See  Mrs.  E.  D.  Cheney's  Louisa 
May  Alcott ;  her  Life,  Letters,  and  Journals,  1892.) 

Alcott  died  in  Concord,  March  4,  1888,  and  his 
daughter  followed  him  only  two  days  later. 

MARGARET  FULLER  OSSOLI  (1810-1850). 

"  If  Emerson  was  the  soul  of  the  Concord  movement,  Margaret 
Fuller  was  the  blood." 

' '  Some  of  her  papers  were  the  undeniable  utterances  of  a  true, 
heroic  mind ;  altogether  unique,  so  far  as  I  know,  among  the  writ- 
ing women  of  this  generation ;  rare  enough,  God  knows,  among  the 
writing  men."  —  Carlyle. 

Life.  —  (The  most  complete  life  of  Margaret  Fuller  is 
that  contributed  by  Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson  to 
the  American  Men  of  Letters  Series.  The  Memoirs  of 
Margaret  Fuller,  by  Emerson,  W.  H.  Channing,  and 
J.  F.  Clarke,  which  treat  her  life  from  the  Transcendental 
standpoint,  appeared  in  1852.  Many  others,  including 
Poe,  Bayard  Taylor,  and  Horace  Greeley,  have  written 
memoirs  or  criticisms  of  her  life  and  work.  Hawthorne's 
caustic  sketch  of  her  is  preserved  in  Julian  Hawthorne's 
Nathaniel  Hawthorne  and  his  Wife;  the  character 
"Z^nobia"  in  The  Blithedale  Romance  is  a  study  of  her 


THE   TRANSCENDENTALISTS.  231 

as  she  appeared  at  Brook  Farm;  Lowell  cleverly  cari- 
catured her  in  the  Fable  for  Critics  under  the  name 
"Miranda."  See  also  Julia  Ward  Howe's  Memoir  in 
the  Eminent  Women  Series,  1882,  and  Parton's  Life  of 
Horace  Q-reeley .~) 

In  many  respects  Margaret  Fuller  stands,  like  Poe, 
solitary  in  our  literature.  Her  strong,  masculine  per- 
sonality which  placed  her  alone  among  American 
women,  and  her  keen,  peculiar  intellect  which  made 
her  a  powerful  influence  on  the  intellectual  men  of  her 
generation,  defy  classification.  If  judged  alone  by  her 
actual  literary  product,  she  would  deserve  but  a  pass- 
ing notice,  yet  she  is  ranked  with  the  great  builders 
of  American  literature.  Concerning  few  American 
writers,  save  Poe  and  Whitman,  can  one  find  such 
extremes  of  opinion.  Some  of  her  contemporaries 
characterized  her  as  superficially  learned,  disagreeable, 
warped  by  intense  personal  likes  and  dislikes,  domi- 
neering, oracular,  inordinately  fond  of  monologue ;  while 
others,  like  Emerson,  Carlyle,  Channing,  and  Higgin- 
son,  declared  her  a  rare  genius,  a  profound  thinker 
and  scholar,  a  fountain  of  "  wit,  anecdote,  love  stories, 
tragedies,  oracles  " ;  "  the  queen  of  some  parliament  of 
love,  who  carried  the  key  to  all  confidences  and  to 
whom  every  question  had  been  finally  referred."  To 
these  she  seemed  to  breathe  out  constantly  "an  inef- 
fably sweet,  benign,  tenderly  humane,  and  serenely  high 
spirit."  She  is  almost  the  only  American  author  who, 
like  a  great  singer  or  actor,  keeps  a  place  in  our  mem- 
ories chiefly  through  the  testimony  of  contemporaries. 


232  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Before  criticizing  Margaret  Fuller's  life  and  charac- 
ter, one  must  take  into  consideration  her  early  education. 
Her  father,  a  scholarly  man,  spared  no  efforts  to  make 
her  a  youthful  prodigy.  Her  brain  was  terribly  stimu- 
lated. At  the  age  of  six  she  was  poring  over  Latin  verbs ; 
at  eight  she  was  eagerly  reading  Shakespeare,  Cervantes, 
and  Moliere,  and  before  she  was  twelve  she  had  become 
familiar  with  the  leading  masterpieces  of  the  Greek, 
Latin,  French,  Italian,  and  English.  She  was,  conse- 
quently, in  a  few  years  a  phenomenon  of  learning,  "  but 
was  paying  the  penalty  for  undue  application  in  near- 
sightedness,  awkward  manners,  extravagant  tendencies 
of  thought,  and  a  pedantic  style  of  talk." 

In  1840,  when  she  became  editor  of  The  Dial,  Mar- 
garet Fuller  was  regarded  as  the  most  intellectual 
woman  of  America.  She  had  read  deeply  in  the  litera- 
ture of  Germany,  and  the  German  philosophy  was  at 
her  tongue's  end.  The  year  before  she  had  translated 
Eckermann's  Conversations  with  G-oethe,  and  the  follow- 
ing year  she  completed  a  translation  of  The  Letters  of 
G-underode  and  Bettine.  In  every  way  she  was  fitted 
to  become  the  oracle  of  the  Transcendentalist  move- 
ment. Her  literary  .life,  which  now  began,  may  be 
divided  into  three  periods.  The  first  may  be  termed 
the  Transcendental  period,  during  which  time  she  pub- 
lished two  books :  Summer  on  the  Lakes,  the  journal 
of  an  excursion  to  Lake  Superior  in  1843,  and  Woman 
in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  which  had  originally  appeared 
in  The  Dial  under  the  title,  "  The  Great  Lawsuit."  The 
first,  which  is  in  many  respects  her  most  literary  work, 


THE   TRANSCENDENTALISTS.  233 

excels  in  descriptive  power.  Her  condensed  and  graphic 
pictures  of  Niagara,  of  the  wild  regions  about  the  Great 
Lakes,  which  were  then  on  the  borders  of  civilization, 
of  frontier  life  in  its  summer  dress,  of  the  boundless 
prairies,  of  the  rapidly  advancing  tide  of  civilization, 
abound  in  life  and  beauty.  Her  Woman  in  the  Nine- 
teenth Century  is  full  of  force  and  earnestness.  She  was, 
in  the  words  of  Greeley's  introduction  to  the  work, 
"  one  of  the  earliest  as  well  as  ablest  among  American 
women  to  demand  for  her  sex  equality  before  the  law 
with  her  titular  lord  and  master."  The  book  is  bold 
and  strenuous,  and  is  still  readable. 

The  second  period  in  Margaret  Fuller's  career  opened 
in  1844,  when  she  removed  to  New  York  City  to  become 
literary  editor  of  Greeley's  Tribune.  During  the  twenty 
months  of  her  connection  with  this  paper  she  produced 
her  strongest  work.  As  a  critic  she  had  rare  powers, 
and  her  Papers  on  Literature  and  Art,  collected  from 
The  Tribune  and  published  in  1846,  furnish  the  best 
basis  that  we  have  for  an  estimate  of  her  powers.  "  She 
could  appreciate,  but  not  create." 

In  1846  she  went  to  Europe  and  after  travelling  ex- 
tensively in  England  and  on  the  Continent  found  her- 
self, in  1847,  in  Rome.  Six  months  later  she  became 
the  wife  of  the  Italian  Marquis  Ossoli,  a  near  friend  of 
Mazzini  the  patriot.  She  was  present  in  Rome  during  the 
Revolution  of  1848  and  a  year  later  during  the  French 
siege  of  the  city,  when  she  rendered  invaluable  assist- 
ance in  the  hospitals.  In  1850  she  sailed  for  America 
with  her  husband  and  child,  but  the  ship  was  wrecked 


234  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

in  sight  of  the  American  coast  and  all  were  lost.  The 
literary  result  of  this  last  period  of  her  life,  a  history  of 
Rome,  perished  with  its  author. 

The  place  which  Margaret  Fuller  will  ultimately 
occupy  in  the  history  of  American  letters  can  only  be 
conjectured.  "  Her  genius  was  not  quick  to  clothe 
itself  in  the  written  word,"  and  it  seems  but  fair  to 
judge  that  any  literary  fame  that  rests  largely  upon 
tradition  must  ultimately  be  lost.  Her  genius  lay  in 
her  personal  influence.  She  held  frequent  "  Conver- 
sations," during  which  her  admirers  listened  with  bated 
breath  as  to  a  goddess.  She  drew  about  her  with 
scarcely  an  effort  a  circle  of  the  purest  and  most 
spiritual  men  and  women  of  New  England  and  she 
ruled  it  with  singular  power.  And  after  her  death  the 
noblest  and  best  minds  of  both  hemispheres  united 
to  do  honor  to  her  memory. 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  Emerson's  Memoir. 

George  Ripley  (1802-1880).  —  (O.  B.  Frothingham 
in  American  Men  of  Letters  Series.)  Although  a  scholar 
of  great  metaphysical  and  theological  acuteness,  and  a 
critic  of  high  rank  exerting  through  the  last  years  of  his 
life  a  powerful  influence  as  literary  editor  of  the  New 
York  Tribune,  George  Ripley  is  chiefly  remembered  as 
the  founder  of  the  Brook  Farm  Community.  Into  this 
idea  he  threw  all  of  his  tremendous  zeal  and  energy.  He 
resigned  his  pulpit  in  Boston  to  devote  his  whole  time 
to  it,  aJid  fox  it  he  labored  with  earnestness  and  self- 
denial.  He  was  the  motive  power  of  the  movement. 

With  Charles  A.  Dana  (1819-1897)    Ripley  edited 


THE  TRANSCENDENTALISTS.  235 

the  New  American  Cyclopaedia^  a  work  begun  in  1855 
and  finished  in  1863. 

Theodore  Parker  (1810-1860),  the  representative  of 
Transcendentalism  in  the  pulpit,  was  a  man  of  intense 
convictions  and  great  activity,  a  prominent  figure  in  all 
the  reforms  of  his  day.  His  work  in  every  humanitarian 
field  was  tremendous  and  his  influence  was  correspond- 
ingly great.  Although  he  wrote  enough  to  fill  ten 
volumes,  it  was  never  with  a  literary  intent.  He  was 
a  man  of  action  rather  than  a  producer  of  literature. 

William  Henry  Channing  (1810-1885),  a  clergyman 
of  much  power  and  influence,  became  best  known  in 
America  as  a  vigorous  antislavery  orator.  For  a  time 
he  was  prominently  connected  with  the  Transcenden- 
talist  Club,  and  he  contributed  several  pieces  to  The 
Dial.  He  edited  the  life  and  correspondence  of  his 
uncle,  Dr.  Channing,  and  wrote  a  memoir  of  Margaret 
Fuller,  besides  many  other  works.  He  went  to  England 
in  1854,  and  three  years  later  accepted  the  pastorate  of 
the  Hope  Street  Chapel,  Liverpool.  With  the  exception 
of  several  years  passed  in  Washington  during  the  Civil 
War,  he  made  England  his  home  until  his  death.  His 
eldest  daughter  is  the  wife  of  the  English  poet,  Edwin 
Arnold. 

See  Life  by  O.  B.  Frothingham. 

William  Ellery  Channing  (1818-1901),  another  nephew 
of  Dr.  Channing,  an  intimate  friend  of  Thoreau  and 
Hawthorne,  published  five  volumes  of  poems  and  a  some- 
what rhapsodical  study  of  the  life  and  character  of 
Thoreau. 


236  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Christopher  Pearse  Cranch  (1813-1891),  a  native  of 
Virginia  and  a  member  of  the  class  of  1832  in  Columbia 
College,  gained  renown  as  a  landscape  painter,  poet 
and  translator.  His  poems  often  have  a  rare  melody 
and  many  of  his  sonnets  are  nearly  faultless.  His 
translation  of  Virgil's  JEneid  ranks  with  the  great 
translations  of  the  century. 

Jones  Very  (1813-1880),  a  Unitarian  minister  of 
Salem,  Massachusetts,  characterized  by  Lowell  as  the 
"most  Hebrew  of  Saxons,"  became  pre-eminently  the 
poet  of  Transcendentalism  on  its  mystical  side.  His 
form  of  expression  was  chiefly  the  sonnet,  which  he 
brought  to  a  high  degree  of  perfection. 

"Religion  has  informed  the  sonnet  nowhere  else  with  deeper 
meanings.  Sometimes  the  mysticism  baffles  comprehension,  but 
many  times  the  meaning  is  as  fresh  and  clear  as  any  mountain 
brook,  and  not  infrequently  as  colorless  and  cold.  Some  of  these 
sonnets  have  long  since  passed  over  into  the  religious  consciousness 
of  New  England  worshippers.  They  have  been  adapted  to  the 
Sunday  service  in  the  form  of  hymns  and  chants."  —  /.  W.  Chad- 
wick. 

GEOKGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS  (1824-1892). 
"A  Puritan  Cavalier." 

Among  the  younger  men  who  entered  the  Brook 
Farm  Community  as  students,  Charles  A.  Dana  and 
Nile  Notes  of  a  George  William  Curtis  have  won  for  them- 
Howadji.  selves  literary  distinction.  Dana,  after  ed- 

*  *         *  iting    The    Tribune  from    1847   to    1862, 


Lotus-Eating,     during  which  time  the  paper  became  the 

Potiphar  Pa-         ,  .    -  -  A,  ,.  f 

pers.  chief  organ  of  the  antislavery  movement, 


THE  TRANSCENDENTALISTS.  237 

joined  in  1868  the  staff  of  the  New  York  Prue  and  I. 
Sun,  of  which  he  remained  editor  until  his  E^^from  the 
death  in  1897;  while  Curtis  by  his  sunny  Easy  Chair. 
books  of  travel,  his  graceful  essays  and  novels,  his  ora- 
tory, his  culture,  and  his  active  life,  became  one  of  the 
great  intellectual  influences  of  his  time. 

Life  (by  Edward  Carey,  in  American  Men  of  Letters 
Series.  See  also  William  Winter's  address  on  the  life 
and  character  of  George  William  Curtis).  George 
William  Curtis  was  born  in  Providence,  Feb.  24,  1824. 
After  attending  school  for  a  time  at  Jamaica  Plain, 
Massachusetts,  he  removed  in  1839  with  his  parents  to 
New  York,  where  for  a  year  he  was  clerk  in  a  mercantile 
house  in  that  city.  He  was  at  Brook  Farm  eighteen 
months,  and,  attracted  by  the  magnetism  of  Emerson, 
he  passed  eighteen  months  more  in  Concord,  working 
a  part  of  each  day  on  a  farm  and  devoting  the  rest 
to  study. 

In  1846  he  went  abroad,  and  for  the  next  four  years 
he  travelled  widely  in  Europe,  Egypt,  and  Syria.  On 
his  return  he  published  two  graceful  volumes  of  travel, 
Nile  Notes  of  a  Howadji  (1851),  and  The  Howadji  in 
Syria  (1852),  full  of  the  gorgeous  coloring  and  the 
dreamy  atmosphere  of  the  Orient.  Delicate  humor, 
quaint  fancy,  and  rare  refinement  breathe  from  every 
page.  These  rare  qualities,  mingled  with  his  descrip- 
tions and  adventures,  combine  to  make  the  "  Howadji " 
volumes  the  most  charming  of  their  kind  in  our  liter- 
ature. 

During  the  summer  of  1852  Curtis  contributed  to 


238  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

The  Tribune  a  series  of  letters  full  of  sentiment,  poetical 
description,  and  reflection  written  from  Saratoga,  New- 
port, and  Lake  George,  which  were  the  same  year 
republished  under  the  title  Lotus  Eating:  a  Summer 
Book.  During  the  following  year  he  became  connected 
with  the  newly  founded  Putnam's  Monthly,  and  shortly 
afterward  found  himself  sole  editor  of  the  magazine. 
By  the  failure  of  the  monthly  in  1857,  he  lost  his  entire 
fortune.  From  the  columns  of  Putnam's  he  republished 
in  1853  The  Potiphar  Papers,  a  series  of  caustic  satires 
on  the  hollowness  and  sham  of  New  York  society  life, 
and  in  1856  Prue  and  J,  a  series  of  sketches  and  essays 
connected  by  a  slight  thread  of  story.  This  volume, 
one  of  his  daintiest  creations,  would  have  been  a  credit 
to  Charles  Lamb  at  his  best.  Curtis  attempted  but  one 
novel,  Trumps,  which  appeared  in  Harper's  Weekly  in 
1861. 

After  his  return  from  the  East  Curtis  was  for  a  time 
editor  of  The  Tribune.  In  1853  he  started  in  Harper's 
Magazine  the  series  of  essays  on  current  topics  known 
as  "  The  Easy  Chair,"  a  department  which  he  conducted 
almost  without  intermission  until  his  death.  The  three 
volumes  of  Essays  from  the  Easy  Chair,  which  have 
been  collected  and  republished  since  their  p-uthors 
death,  are  a  rare  addition  to  American  prose  literature. 
In  them  are  treated  from  a  contemporary  standpoint 
all  of  the  great  events  of  a  peculiarly  eventful  hail- 
century.  Here  and  there  we  catch  charming  glimpses 
of  Dickens  and  Thackeray,  of  Emerson  and  Thoreau, 
of  Edward  Everett  aud  Wendell  Phillips,  of  Jenny 


THE  TRANSCENDENTALISTS.  239 

Lind,  —  and  indeed  of  all  the  chief  personages  of  the 
time,  while  mingled  with  it  all  are  delightful  satires 
on  the  foibles  and  fashions,  the  flippancy  and  selfishness 
of  the  day.  "  In  them  Mr.  Curtis'  style  has  thrown 
off  the  sensuousness  of  youth  for  the  richness  of  ma- 
turity; it  is  flushed  with  color,  but  of  a  deeper  hue  than 
that  which  ran  maenad-like  through  Nile  Notes." 

As  the  editor  of  Harper's  Weekly  during  thirty-five 
eventful  years,  Curtis  exerted  a  wide-spread  influence 
both  on  literature  and  politics.  His  position  in  1884, 
when  he  "  bolted  "  the  Republican  party  and  became  the 
leader  of  a  powerful  independent  faction,  is  well  known. 
He  was  chairman  of  the  first  Civil  Service  Commission 
and  also  chairman  of  the  New  York  Constitutional  Con- 
vention ;  he  declined,  in  1876,  the  Missions  to  England 
and  to  Germany,  both  of  which  were  offered  to  him,  and 
he  also  declined  at  various  times  many  other  responsible 
positions. 

As  an  orator  he  stands  with  the  highest.  "  He  was 
the  last  great  orator,"  says  William  Winter,  "  of  the 
school  of  Everett,  Sumner,  and  Wendell  Phillips." 
During  the  last  years  of  his  life  he  was  in  almost  con- 
stant demand  on  the  lecture  platform,  and  as  the  orator 
on  great  occasions. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Essays  from  the  Easy  Chair,  Vol.  I ; 
Prue  and  I;  Oration  on  Wendell  Phillips. 


XVIII. 

NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE. 

1804-1864. 

"The  rarest  genius  America  has  given  to  literature."  —  Fields. 

"  The  greatest  imaginative  genius  since  Shakespeare."  — Lowell. 

"The  great  story-teller,  whose  sweet,  pure,  perfect  prose  more  than 
deserves  the  praise  that  Johnson  lavished  on  the  prose  of  Addison." 
—  Stoddard. 

Life.  —  (In  deference  to  the  wish  of  Hawthorne,  ex- 
pressed shortly  before  his  death,  his  family  have  per- 
mitted no  complete  and  final  biography.  To  gratify  the 
urgent  demands  of  the  public,  however,  Mrs.  Hawthorne 
in  1868,  1870,  and  1871  published  copious  selections 
from  Hawthorne's  note-books,  and  in  1887  Julian  Haw- 
thorne published  Nathaniel  Hawthorne  and  his  Wife,  a 
work  in  two  volumes,  made  up  chiefly  of  letters.  These, 
together  with  Hawthorne's  introductions  to  his  novels 
and  tales,  and  his  letters  to  various  persons,  which  have 
been,  from  time  to  time,  published,  give  a  large  amount 
of  valuable  biographical  matter.  In  addition  to  these 
may  be  mentioned  G.  P.  Lathrop's  A  Study  of  Haw- 
thorne, Henry  James'  Hawthorne  in  the  English  Men  of 
Letters  Series,  and  J.  T.  Fields'  "  Hawthorne  "  in  Yes- 
terdays with  Authors.  The  best  brief  life  of  Hawthorne 
is  Woodberry's,  American  Men  of  Letters  Series,  1902. 
For  the  literary  history  of  Salem  see  G.  B.  Loring's  His- 

240 


NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE.  241 

tory  of  Essex  County,  Massachusetts,  with  sketches  of 
Roger  Williams,  Hawthorne,  Pierce,  Very,  Prescott  and 
Choate,  whose  lives  were  connected  with  the  city.) 

Few  towns  in  America  have  in  their  history  and  sur- 
roundings more  of  the  elements  of  romance  than  has  old 
Salem,  Massachusetts.  Its  history  dates  back  to  the  very 
beginnings  of  New  England;  some  of  the  strongest 
characters  of  the  Puritan  days  were  connected  with  it, 
while  within  its  bounds  was  enacted  the  darkest  tragedy 
of  Colonial  times.  A  bustling  seaport  in  the  early  days, 
its  prestige  ebbed  away  until,  when  Hawthorne  entered 
its  Custom  House, "  its  wharf  was  burdened  with  decayed 
wooden  warehouses,  and  exhibited  few  or  no  symptoms 
of  commercial  life." 

In  this  old  town,  where  so  much  whispers  of  the  past, 
of  wild  tales  of  witchcraft,  and  of  legends  of  the  sea, 
Nathaniel  Hawthorne  was  born,  July  4,  1804.  The 
weird  romancer  may  be  said  to  have  been  almost  indige- 
nous to  its  soil.  In  his  introduction  to  The  Scarlet  Let- 
ter he  wrote : 

"  It  is  now  nearly  two  centuries  and  a  quarter  since  the  original 
Briton,  the  earliest  emigrant  of  my  name,  made  his  appearance  in 
the  wild  and  forest-bordered  settlement,  which  has  since  become 
a  city.  ...  He  was  a  soldier,  legislator,  judge  ;  he  was  a  ruler  in 
the  church;  he  had  all  the  Puritanic  traits,  both  good  and  evil. 
He  was  likewise  a  bitter  persecutor,  as  witness  the  Quakers,  who 
have  remembered  him  in  their  histories,  and  relate  an  incident  of 
his  hard  severity  toward  a  woman  of  their  sect,  which  will  last 
longer,  it  is  to  be  feared,  than  any  record  of  his  better  deeds, 
although  these  be  many.  His  son  too  inherited  the  persecuting 
spirit,  and  made  himself  so  conspicuous  in  the  martyrdom"  of  the 
witches,  that  their  blood  may  fairly  be  said  to  have  left  a  stain 
upon  him.  .  .  .  Planted  deep,  in  the  town's  earliest  infancy  and 


242  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

childhood,  by  these  two  earnest  and  energetic  men,  the  race  has 
ever  since  subsisted  here  ;  always,  too,  in  respectability  ;  never,  so 
far  as  I  have  known,  disgraced  by  a  single  unworthy  member. 
.  .  .  From  father  to  son,  for  above  a  hundred  years,  they  followed 
the  sea;  a  gray-headed  ship  master,  in  each  generation,  retiring 
from  the  quarter  deck  to  the  homestead,  while  a  boy  of  fourteen 
took  the  hereditary  place  before  the  mast,  confronting  the  salt 
spray  and  the  gale  which  had  blustered  against  his  sire  and  grand- 
sire.  The  boy,  also,  in  due  time,  passed  from  the  forecastle  to  the 
cabin,  spent  a  tempestuous  manhood,  and  returned  from  his  world 
wanderings,  to  grow  old  and  die,  and  mingle  his  dust  with  the 
native  earth." 

Hawthorne's  father,  who  followed  the  ancestral  pro- 
fession, died  in  Surinam,  South  America,  of  yellow  fever, 
in  1808.  His  death  had  a  great  influence  on  the  son's 
career,  for  the  mother  immediately  retired  into  the 
deepest  seclusion.  Shut  out  in  a  measure  from  the 
world,  the  sensitive  boy  became  shy  and  diffident,  a 
dreamer  and  a  lover  of  solitude. 

"  When  I  was  nine  or  ten  years  old  my  mother  took  up  her  res- 
idence on  the  banks  of  Sebago  Lake  in  Maine,  where  the  family 
owned  a  large  tract  of  land,  and  here  I  ran  quite  wild,  and  would 
I  doubt  not  have  willingly  run  wild  till  this  time,  fishing  all  day 
long,  or  shooting  with  an  old  fowling  piece ;  but  reading  a  good 
deal,  too,  on  the  rainy  days,  especially  in  Shakespeare  and  The 
Pilgrim's  Progress,  and  any  poetry  or  light  books  within  my  reach. 
.  .  .  But  by  and  by  my  good  mother  began  to  think  it  was  neces~ 
sary  for  her  boy  to  do  something  else  ;  so  I  was  sent  back  to  Salem 
where  a  prime  instructor  fitted  me  for  college."  —  Autobiographical 
Letter  to  R.  H.  Stoddard. 

By  the  aid  of  this  instructor,  who  was  Joseph  Worces- 
ter, the  author  of  the  dictionary,  Hawthorne  was  en- 
abled in  1821  to  enter  Bowdoin  College.  Strangely 
enough,  the  poet  Longfellow  was  a  member  of  the  same 


NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE.  243 

class,  while  Franklin  Pierce,  afterwards  to  become  Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States,  had  entered  the  college  one 
year  before.  Hawthorne's  college  life  was  uneventful. 
In  general  scholarship  he  did  not  rank  high,  probably 
because  he  was  too  shy  to  assert  himself,  yet  he  early 
acquired  distinction  as  a  master  of  English  composition. 

"  It  was  my  fortune,  or  misfortune,  just  as  you  please,  to  have 
some  slender  means  of  supporting  myself,  and  so,  on  leaving  college 
in  1825,  instead  of  immediately  studying  a  profession,  I  sat  down 
to  consider  what  pursuit  in  life  I  was  best  fit  for.  My  mother  had 
now  returned  [to  Salem]  and  taken  up  her  abode  in  her  deceased 
father's  house,  a  tall,  ugly,  old,  grayish  building  ...  in  which  I 
had  a  room  ;  and  year  after  year  I  kept  on  considering  what  I  was 
fit  for,  and  time  and  my  destiny  decided  that  I  was  to  be  the 
writer  that  I  am.  I  had  always  a  natural  tendency  .  .  .  towards 
seclusion,  and  this  I  now  indulged  to  the  uttermost,  so  that  for 
months  together  I  scarcely  held  human  intercourse  outside  of  my 
own  family,  seldom  going  out  except  at  twilight,  or  only  to  take 
the  nearest  way  to  the  most  convenient  solitude,  which  was  of  tenest 
the  sea-shore.  ...  I  had  very  few  acquaintances  in  Salem,  and 
during  the  nine  or  ten  years  that  I  spent  there  in  this  solitary  way, 
I  doubt  whether  so  much  as  twenty  people  in  the  town  were  aware 
of  my  existence,"  —  Autobiographical  Letter. 

It  was  during  these  lonely  years  that  Hawthorne 
served  his  apprenticeship  as  a  romancer.  He  wrote 
almost  continuously,  burning  the  greater  part  of  his 
writing.  Some  of  his  tales  and  sketches,  however, 
appeared  from  time  to  time  in  obscure  newspapers  and 
periodicals  like  The  Salem  Gazette,  The  New  England 
Magazine,  The  Boston  Token,  and  The  Democratic  Re- 
view. It  was  this  twelve  years  of  solitude  and  hard 
work*  that  made  of  Hawthorne  the  master  that  he  after- 
wards became.  (See  American  Note-Books,  p.  222.) 


244  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

1.  Sketches  and  Tales.  —  Although  Hawthorne  had 
published,  in  1828,  JFanshawe,  a  crude  romance  which  in 
after  years  he  tried  hard  to  suppress,  his  real  literary 
life  did  not  open  until  1837,  when  he  published  the  first 
Twice-Told  series  of  the  Twice- Told  Tales,  a  collection 

Tales.  -.,.„..  ., 

Mosses  from  an  °*  nis  fugitive  contributions  to  newspapers 
°The *Snow'  ^^  magaz;ines-  Two  years  later,  through 
Image.  the  influence  of  Bancroft,  he  found  employ- 

ment for  a  time  in  the  Boston  Custom  House,  and  in 
1841  he  joined  the  Brook  Farm  Community.  He  was 
not  enthusiastic  over  his  experience,  as  his  note-books 
show.  "  I  went  to  live  in  Arcady,"  he  says  in  one  place, 
"  and  found  myself  up  to  the  chin  in  a  barnyard." 

In  1842  Hawthorne  was  married  to  Miss  Sophia 
Peabody  of  Salem.  The  union  was  an  ideal  one, 
exerting  a  powerful  influence  on  his  after  life  and  char- 
acter. Full  of  happiness  and  dreams,  they  moved  into 
the  "  Old  Manse  "  at  Concord.  The  literary  result  of 
the  next  three  years  was  the  Mosses  from  an  Old  Manse, 
a  collection  of  sketches  and  tales  after  the  same  plan  as 
the  Twice- Told  Tales.  The  Snow  Image,  which  was  pre- 
pared at  Lenox  five  years  later,  completes  the  list  of  the 
tales  and  sketches.  In  its  preface  he  wrote,  "  The  pub- 
lic need  not  dread  my  again  trespassing  on  its  kindness 
with  any  more  of  these  musty  and  mouse-nibbled  leaves 
of  old  periodicals  transformed,  by  the  magic  arts  of  nry\ 
friendly  publishers,  into  a  new  book.  These  are  the 
last."  When  he  bade  adieu  to  the  "  Old  Manse  "  in 
1846,  to  become  surveyor  in  the  Custom  House  in 
Salem,  he  closed  the  first  period  of  his  literary  life. 


NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE.  245 

Hawthorne's  tales  and  sketches  may  be  divided  into 
three  groups:  Allegories,  Sketches,  and  Tales  of  New 
England  History  and  Tradition.  In  the  words  of  Poe, 
"The  strain  of  allegory  completely  overwhelms  the 
greater  number  of  his  subjects,  and  in  some  measure 
interferes  with  the  direct  conduct  of  all."  In  such 
sketches  as  "David  Swan,"  "The  Hollow  of  Three 
Hills,"  "  Dr.  Heidegger's  Experiment,"  and  "  Edward 
Fane's  Rosebud,"  the  characters  are  cold  and  lifeless, 
mere  symbols  used  in  the  solution  of  some  vague,  fan- 
tastic problem  of  destiny.  About  these  allegories  there 
is  little  that  is  connected  with  the  real,  living  world. 
Some  are  vague  and  even  incomprehensible;  some  are 
morbid  and  unwholesome ;  "  all  are  the  work  of  a 
recluse  who  makes  guesses  at  life  from  a  knowledge  of 
his  own  heart,  acquired  by  a  habit  of  introspection,  but 
who  has  had  little  contact  with  men."  Hawthorne,  in 
the  preface  to  Twice- Told  Tales,  has  characterized  with 
rare  insight  these  early  sketches : 

"They  have  the  pale  tint  of  flowers  that  blossomed  in  too 
retired  a  shade, — the  coolness  of  a  meditative  habit  which  diffuses 
itself  through  the  feeling  and  observation  of  every  sketch. 
Instead  of  passion  there  is  sentiment ;  and  even  in  what  purports 
to  be  pictures  of  actual  life,  we  have  allegory,  not  always  so 
warmly  dressed  in  its  habiliments  of  flesh  and  blood  as  to  be  taken 
into  the  reader's  mind  without  a  shiver.  .  .  .  The  book,  if  you 
would  see  anything  in  it,  requires  to  be  read  in  the  clear,  brown, 
twilight  atmosphere  in  which  it  was  written." 

At  least  one-third  of  Hawthorne's  early  work  may  be 
classed  under  the  head  of  Sketches, —  "pure  essays," 
as  Poe  expressed  it,  —  studies  of  external  nature  and 


246  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

human  nature  from  the  standpoint  of  a  solitary  man. 
The  observer  is  hidden  from  view,  in  a  steeple,  behind 
a  window,  under  an  umbrella,  in  the  solitude  of  the 
fields  or  the  ocean  shore,  —  always  secure  from  observa- 
tion, and  from  this  vantage  ground  he  describes  his 
surroundings.  "Sunday  at  Home,"  "Little  Annie's 
Ramble,"  "  The  Town  Pump,"  "  Toll  Gatherer's  Day," 
" Snowflakes,"  "Footprints  on  the  Sea-shore,"  "The 
Old  Manse,"  "Main  Street,"  and  numbers  of  others, 
have  few  equals  even  in  Irving's  collection.  In  sweet- 
ness and  purity  of  style,  faithfulness  to  nature,  delicate 
humor  and  pathos,  and  simple  descriptive  power,  they 
have  no  superior  in  American  or  even  in  English  lit- 
erature. After  reading  his  sketches  and  note-books,  one 
needs  not  to  be  told  that  Hawthorne  lived  very  close  to 
Nature's  heart.  Many  of  the  sketches  are  studies  of 
human  nature.  In  "  Ethan  Brand,"  "  Wakefield,"  and 
many  others,  we  have  minute  analyses  of  the  impulses 
and  motives  of  the  heart. 

Of  real  tales,  written  with  narrative  intent  only,  like 
the  tales  of  Poe,  Hawthorne  wrote  comparatively  few. 
Among  them  may  be  mentioned  "  The  Gray  Champion," 
"  The  Legends  of  the  Province  House,"  "  The  Gentle 
Boy,"  and  "  Endicott  and  the  Red  Cross." 

All  of  Hawthorne's  tales  that  are  connected  with  the 
earth  at  all,  have  New  England  for  their  background. 
Many  of  the  allegories,  like  "The  Great  Carbuncle," 
"  The  Great  Stone  Face,"  "  The  Minister's  Black  Veil," 
"  The  Ambitious  Guest,"  and  "  The  May  Pole  of  Merry 
Mount,"  are  drawn  from  New  England  history  or  tra- 


NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE.  247 

dition.  Hawthorne  transfigured  New  England.  He 
and  Whittier  did  for  it  what  Scott  and  Burns  did 
for  Scotland.  See  Professor  Richardson's  analysis  of 
"  Ethan  Brand,"  American  Literature,  Vol.  II.,  349 ; 
Poe's  review  of  Hawthorne's  tales,  Vol.  VI. ;  and  Long- 
fellow's review  of  Twice-Told  Tales.  * 

« 
SUGGESTIONS  FOR  STUDY. — 1.   Arrange  in  three  classes  all  of 

Hawthorne's  tales  and  sketches. 

2.  Compare  the  story  of  "Endicott  and   the  Red  Cross,"  in 
Twice-Told  Tales,  with  the  same  story  in  Grandfather's  Chair. 

3.  Find  in  "Endicott  and  the  Red  Cross"  the  germ  of  The 
Scarlet  Letter. 

4.  Find  in  the  tales  materials  which  are  found  in  their  original 
form  in  the  note-books,  as,  for  example,  the  story  of  the  one-armed 
soap  boiler  in  "  Ethan  Brand." 

REQUIRED  READING.— "The  Hollow  of  Three  Hills,"  " Ethan 
Brand,"  "  Sights  from  a,  Steeple,"  "  The  Town  Pump,"  " Night 
Sketches,"  "Wakefield,"  "Endicott  and  the  Red  Cross,"  "The 
Gentle  Boy." 

2.  Four  Great  Romances.  —  During  the  three  years  in 
the  Custom  House  at  Salem  Hawthorne  wrote  very 
little,  the  routine  of  official  business  proving  too  dis- 
tracting for  literary  effort.  But  when,  in  1849,  through 
the  coming  into  power  of  the  Whigs,  he  was  removed 
from  his  office,  he  immediately  devoted  all  of  his  time 
and  energies  to  a  romance  which  had  been  shaping  itself 
in  his  thoughts  for  several  years.  The  Scarlet  Letter, 
which  appeared  in  1850,  at  once  made  Hawthorne's 
literary  fame  secure.  Its  success  was  phenomenal,  the 
first  edition  being  exhausted  in  ten  days.  During  the 
next  year  and  a  half  Hawthorne  resided  at  Lenox, 
Massachusetts,  where  he  produced  The  Snow  Image  and 


248  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

other  Twice-Told  Tales,  and  The  House  of  the  Seven 
Gables.  He  passed  the  winter  of  1851-52  at  West 
Newton,  where  he  finished  The  Blithedale  Romance. 
These  years,  between  1849  and  1852,  were  the  period  of 
Hawthorne's  greatest  literary  activity,  since  during  this 
time  he  produced  three  out  of  the  four  great  romances 
upon  which  his  fame  chiefly  rests.  The  Marble  Faun, 
which  appeared  in  1860,  completes  the  number. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "  The  Custom  House,"  introductory  to 
The  Scarlet  Letter. 

Of  the  four  romances  The  Scarlet  Letter  stands  at  the 
head  in  intensity,  subtle  analysis  of  human  passion,  and 
The  Scarlet  minute  dissection  of  the  workings  of  guilty 

6  House  of  human  hearts.  Its  background  and  atmos- 
phere  were  taken  with  wonderful  accuracy 


The  Blithedale    from  early  New  England  days  ;  its  theme 

Romance. 

The  Marble        is  the  blasting  power  of  a  single  sin.     The 
Scarlet  Letter  is,  without  doubt,  the  most 
artistic  creation  that  America  has  given  to  literature. 

The  House  of  the  Seven  (rabies,  while  not  so  intense 
as  The  Scarlet  Letter,  is,  nevertheless,  a  sombre  story  of 
sin  and  its  punishment.  Its  background  is  old  Salem  ; 
its  theme,  in  Hawthorne's  own  words,  is  how  "  the  wrong- 
doing of  one  generation  lives  into  the  successive  ones, 
and,  divesting  itself  of  every  temporary  advantage, 
becomes  a  pure  and  uncontrollable  mischief."  The 
romance  has  almost  the  three  unities  of  the  Greek 
drama.  The  time,  although  centuries  are  involved,  is  in 
reality  but  a  few  weeks  ;  the  story  only  once  leaves  the 
venerable  house  of  the  seven  gables  and  then  it  hastens 


NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE.  249 

back  again  "  like  an  owl  bewildered  in  the  daylight  and 
hastening  back  to  its  hollow  tree " ;  its  action  is  the 
embodiment  of  unity. 

As  little  Pearl  in  The  Scarlet  Letter  is  Hawthorne's 
most  imaginative  creation,  and  as  Phoabe  in  The  House 
of  the  Seven  G-ables  is  his  sweetest  and  most  natural 
conception,  so  Zenobia  in  The  Blithedale  Romance  is  his 
most  intense,  vivid,  and  powerful  character.  The  back- 
ground and  atmosphere  of  The  Blithedale  Romance  were 
drawn  with  accuracy  from  the  author's  recollections 
and  notes  of  his  Brook  Farm  experience,  which  he 
declared  to  be  the  most  romantic  episode  of  his  life. 
The  characters  were,  without  doubt,  imaginary ;  for  while 
freely  admitting  the  resemblance,  Hawthorne  emphati- 
cally denied  having  made  in  Zenobia  a  study  of 
Margaret  Fuller.  The  theme  of  the  romance,  in  its 
author's  own  words,  is  "  that  the  whole  universe,  .  .  . 
and  Providence  or  Destiny  to  boot,  make  common  cause 
against  the  woman  who  swerves  one  hair's-breadth  out 
of  the  beaten  track."  The  Marble  Faun,  Hawthorne's 
longest  romance,  is  the  only  one  of  his  creations  that 
has  a  foreign  background  and  atmosphere.  Its  theme 
is  the  transforming  power  of  a  single  sin.  The  romance 
is  more  mystical  and  vague  than  the  others ;  the  charac- 
ters, in  the  words  of  Motley,  are  "  shadowy,  weird,  fan- 
tastic, Hawthornesque  shapes,  flitting  through  the  golden 
gloom  which  is  the  atmosphere  of  the  book  " ;  the  narra- 
tive is  often  delayed  by  long  descriptions  of  Italian  scen- 
ery and  life,  and  yet  the  romance  is  in  many  respects 
the  maturest  and  richest  of  Hawthorne's  creations. 


250  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

These  four  great  romances  mark  the  highest  flight  of 
imaginative  genius  in  America.  In  their  construction 
Hawthorne  followed  no  models.  Judged  by  the  stand- 
ards usually  applied  to  the  romance,  they  are  singularly 
defective.  They  are  almost  wholly  without  plot;  they 
contain  little  incident ;  and  they  deal  with  few  charac- 
ters. Their  interest  depends  almost  wholly  upon  their 
minute  analysis  of  the  workings  and  motives  of  the 
human  heart.  Each  romance  is  woven  of  four,  or  at  the 
most  five,  characters,  a  vague,  romantic  background,  and 
a  great  moral  or  psychological  truth.  All  of  them  are 
more  or  less  allegorical.  "Every  gable  of  the  seven 
gables,  every  room  in  the  house,  every  burdock  growing 
rankly  before  the  door,  has  a  symbolical  significance." 
Bulwer-Lytton  declared  that "  In 4  Transformation  '  (The 
Marble  Faun)  by  Mr.  Hawthorne,  the  mere  story  of 
outward  incident  can  never  be  properly  understood 
unless  the  reader's  mind  goes  along  with  the  exquisite 
mysticism  which  is  symbolized  by  the  characters.  In 
that  work,  often  very  faulty  in  the  execution,  exceed- 
ingly grand  in  the  conception,  are  typified  the  classical, 
sensuous  life,  through  Donato ;  the  Jewish  dispensation, 
through  Miriam;  the  Christian  dispensation,  through 
Hilda,  who  looks  over  the  ruins  of  Rome  from  her  vir- 
gin chamber  amidst  the  doves." 

Hawthorne  wove  a  romance  as  a  mathematician  solves 
a  problem.  Given,  as  he  expressed  it,  "  the  self-concen- 
trated philanthropist ;  the  high-spirited  woman  bruising 
herself  against  the  narrow  limitations  of  her  sex ;  the 
weakly  maiden,  whose  tremulous  nerves  endow  her  with 


NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE.  251 

sibylline  attributes;  the  minor  poet,  beginning  life 
with  strenuous  aspirations  which  die  out  with  his 
youthful  fervor  " ;  place  them  together  in  a  phalanstery 
remote  from  the  rest  of  the  world  and  what  will  be  the 
result  ?  How  will  the  mutual  attractions  and  repulsions, 
the  diversity  of  temperaments  and  ideals  end?  Who 
shall  say  that  the  denouement  of  The  Blithedale  Ro- 
mance is  not  the  only  possible  one  ?  For  the  romancer 
knows  every  secret,  watches  every  pulsation  of  the 
souls  of  his  characters,  and  works  them  into  the  equa- 
tion. The  reader  must  accept  the  result  as  the  author 
did,  even  though  it  clash  with  his  sympathies,  as  we 
know  it  often  did  with  the  author's. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  The  House  of  the  Seven  Gables,  The 
Marble  Faun. 

3.  Stories  for  Children.  — In  1836,  Hawthorne  had 
left  for  four  months  his  solitude  in  Salem  to  edit  for 
S.  G.  Goodrich  a  juvenile  periodical  in  Boston.  This 
experience,  short  as  it  was,  was  a  valuable  one ;  for  it 
revealed  to  Hawthorne  his  powers  as  a  writer  for  chil- 
dren. His  note-books  from  this  period  begin  to  contain 
the  germs  of  iuvenile  sketches  and  stories.  Shortly 
after  publishing  Twice-Told  Tales,  he  made  his  first 
real  venture  in  this  difficult  field  with  The  Whole  His* 
tory  of  Grandfather's  Chair,  a  most  delightful  crea- 
tion, which  tells  the  early  history  of  New  England  in 
a  series  of  well-chosen  episodes.  A  Wonder  Book,  for 
Grirls  and  Boys,  written  at  Lenox  directly  after  the 
publication  of  The  House  of  the  Seven  Grables,  was 
Hawthorne's  next  venture.  Its  success  was  so  imme- 


252  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

diate  and  remarkable  that,  in  1853,  while  residing  in 
Concord  at  "The  Wayside,"  a  home  that  he  had  pur- 
chased the  previous  year,  he  wrote  Tangleivood  Tales, 
a  /Second  Wonder  Book.  Ten  days  after  its  comple- 
tion his  appointment  by  President  Pierce  to  the  con- 
sulate at  Liverpool  was  confirmed  by  the  United  States 
Senate. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "  The  Wayside,"  introductory  to  Tan- 
glewood  Tales;  "  Consular  Experiences  "  in  Our  Old  Home. 

Hawthorne's  great  interest  in  child  life  is  shown 
throughout  all  his  writings.  He  was  in  thorough  sym- 
Grand  father's  pathy  with  childhood,  and  understood  thor- 
A  l  Wonder  oughly  its  limitations  and  capabilities.  The 
BooJc>  task  which  he  imposed  upon  himself  was 

Tanglewood  _ 

Tales.  no  easy  one.     To  write  a  book  that  will 

S°  interest  children,  that  will  not  be  "written 


and  Biography,  downward,"  or,  on  the  other  hand,  "be  ar- 
tificial or  complex,"  is  an  accomplishment  that  few  have 
acquired.  It  was  Hawthorne's  belief  that  "  children  pos- 
sess an  unestimated  sensibility  to  whatever  is  deep  or 
high  in  imagination  or  feeling,  so  long  as  it  is  simple 
likewise."  His  selection  of  the  old  Grecian  myths,  as 
material  for  child  lore,  was  a  bold  and  characteristic 
one.  "These  old  legends,"  he  asked,  "some  of  them 
so  hideous,  others  so  melancholy  and  miserable,  amid 
which  the  Greek  tragedians  sought  their  themes  and 
moulded  them  into  the  sternest  forms  of  grief  that  ever 
the  world  saw,  was  such  material  the  stuff  that  chil- 
dren's playthings  should  be  made  of  ?  "  It  was,  indeed, 
a  natural  question.  But  beneath  the  magic  of  Haw- 


NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE.  253 

thorne's  touch  everything  objectional  disappeared. 
"They  fall  away,"  as  he  himself  explained  it,  "and 
are  thought  of  no  more  the  instant  he  puts  his  imag- 
ination  in  sympathy  with  the  innocent  little  circle 
whose  wide-open  eyes  are  fixed  so  eagerly  upon  him. 
The  stories  transform  themselves  and  reassume  the 
shapes  which  they  might  be  supposed  to  possess  in 
the  pure  childhood  of  the  world."  Hawthorne  recre- 
ated the  Grecian  mythology.  His  wonder  books  are 
a  real  addition  to  the  world's  literature  of  childhood, 
ranking  with  such  classics  as  Grimm's  and  with  Ander- 
sen's Fairy  Tales,  and  with  Lamb's  Tales  from  Shake- 
speare. E.  P.  Whipple  declared  that  "  Hawthorne  never 
pleases  grown  people  so  much  as  when  he  writes  with 
an  eye  to  the  enjoyment  of  little  people."  There  are 
few  that  will  not  agree  heartily  with  Hawthorne's  dec- 
laration that  he  "  never  did  anything  so  good  as  those 
old  baby-stories." 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  The  Wonder  Book. 

4.  Fragmentary  and  Unfinished  Work.  —  Hawthorne 
was  in  Europe  seven  years, — four  years  as  consul  at 
Liverpool,  and  three  years  in  France,  Italy,  and  vari- 
ous parts  of  England.  In  1860,  he  published  in  Lon- 
don, under  the  title  Transformation,  The  Marble  Faun, 
which  he  had  written  in  Italy  and  revised  at  Redcar, 
England.  The  same  year,  with  eager  anticipation,  he 
returned  to  America  to  spend  his  declining  years  at  the 
Wayside  in  Concord.  But  he  was  destined  to  produce 
only  one  more  complete  book,  Our  Old  Home,  a  volume 


254  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

compiled  in  1862  from  his  English  note-books.  His 
health  was  sadly  shattered  from  some  mysterious  dis- 
ease that  baffled  the  skill  of  physicians.  He  attempted 
at  least  three  romances,  all  of  which  he  left  unfinished. 
Hoping  to  stay  his  fast-ebbing  energies,  in  the  spring  of 
1864  he  started  with  his  lifelong  friend,  ex-President 
Pierce,  on  a  carriage  drive  through  the  White  Moun- 
tains. A  few  days  later,  on  May  19,  the  sad  word  came 
from  Plymouth,  New  Hampshire,  where  they  had  been 
stopping  for  the  night,  that  Hawthorne  had  suddenly 
passed  away. 

At  the  funeral  the  half-finished  manuscript  of  his 
last  romance  was  laid  upon  his  coffin,  rendering  deeply 
significant  the  noble  lines  read  by  Longfellow  : 

"  Ah  !  who  shall  lift  again  that  wand  of  magic  power 

And  the  lost  clew  regain  ? 
The  unfinished  window  in  Aladdin's  tower 
Unfinished  must  remain." 

Since  Hawthorne's  death  his  unfinished  romances  and 
many  extracts  from  his  note-books,  which  he  had  kept 

Our  Old  Home      W^  extreme  care  *  rom  day  to  day  through- 

American,  out  the  greater  part  of  his  life,  have  been 

English, 

French,  and       given   to   the  world.     These  volumes,  al- 

Italian  Note-        ° 

Books.  though  of  a  fragmentary  nature,  —  a  store- 


house  of  descriptions,  plots  for  romances, 
Septimius  characterizations  of  peculiar  personalities, 
Dr.Grimshaw's  written  to  be  drawn  from  for  his  more 

ambitious  literary  efforts,  —  are  of  untold 
value  to  the  student  of  Hawthorne's  life  and  philosophy. 
The  fragments  of  romances  produced  in  his  last  years, 


NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE.  255 

while  full  of  melancholy  evidence  of  failing  powers,  con- 
tain here  and  there  some  of  his  strongest  work.  In 
these  fragments  we  find  work  in  every  stage  of  develop- 
ment. These  and  the  note-books  admit  us  into  the 
romancer's  literary  workshop. 

The  note-books,  in  connection  with  the  autobio- 
graphical chapters  of  the  romances  and  tales  published 
during  Hawthorne's  lifetime,  give  us  as  complete  a 
picture  of  the  romancer  as  we  shall  ever  have.  No  one 
can  ever  reveal  him  to  the  world  any  more  vividly  than 
he  has  chosen  to  reveal  himself.  Well  might  he  enjoin 
upon  his  family  to  publish  no  biography,  for  he  had  been 
his  own  Boswell. 

Hawthorne's  Style.  —  (Richardson,  II. ;  Whipple's 
Literature  and  Life,  American  Literature ;  Welsh's 
English  Literature  and  Language,  II.  ;  Leslie  Stephen's 
Hours  in  a  Library ;  Taylor's  Essays  and  Notes ;  Hig- 
ginson's  Short  Studies  of  American  Authors;  Curtis' 
Literary  and  Social  Essays  ;  Mutton's  Essays  in  Liter- 
ary Criticism ;  Lathrop's  Study  of  Hawthorne ;  Julian 
Hawthorne's  "  Hawthorne's  Philosophy,"  Century  Maga- 
zine, May,  1886.)  As  a  writer  of  strong,  idiomatic, 
musical  English,  Hawthorne  must  be  ranked  with  the 
great  masters  of  the  brightest  age  of  English  literature. 
He  stands  as  a  perpetual  rebuke  to  those  who  insist  that 
perfect  English  is  a  lost  art.  His  style  has  not  a  hint 
of  artificiality,  not  a  suggestion  of  painstaking  revision, 
or  of  slavery  to  the  lifeless  rules  of  rhetoric.  It  seems 
as  natural  and  spontaneous  as  a  talk  by  the  fireside  with 
a  friend,  and  yet  the  reader  looks  in  vain  for  a  single 


256  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

careless  or  slovenly  sentence,  one  that  is  not  of  crystal 
clearness  and  limpid  sweetness.  A  delicate  humor, 
which,  like  all  true  humor,  is  very  close  to  pathos, 
plays  over  every  page.  There  is  not  a  prose  writer  of 
the  century  upon  whose  work  one  would  be  more  willing 
to  stake  the  reputation  of  our  stout  old  English  tongue. 

"  Wherein  this  excellence  in  Hawthorne's  style  consists  it  is  not 
easy  to  say ;  the  charm  is  too  airy  and  impalpable  for  the  grasp  of 
language.  It  is  to  be  described  by  negatives  rather  than  positives ; 
his  style  is  not  stiff,  not  pedantic ;  it  is  free  from  mannerism,  cari- 
cature, and  rhetoric ;  it  has  a  sap  and  flavor  of  its  own ;  it  is  a 
peculiar  combination  of  ease  and  finish.  The  magic  of  style  is 
like  the  magic  of  manner,  it  is  felt  by  all,  but  it  can  be  analyzed 
and  denned  by  few.  .  .  .  Hawthorne  never  was,  could  not  be,  a 
careless  writer.  By  an  inevitable  law  of  his  mind,  every  concep- 
tion to  which  his  pen  gave  shape  was  graceful  and  exact.  .  .  . 
Before  his  exquisite  sentences  verbal  criticism  folds  its  hands  for 
lack  of  argument."  —  G.  S.  Hillard. 


XIX. 

THE   CAMBRIDGE   POETS  (1). 

Old  Cambridge.  —  (Higginson's  Old  Cambridge;  Low- 
ell's Cambridge  Thirty  Years  Ago.)  No  history  of 
American  literature  can  be  complete  that  fails  to  men- 
tion the  great  service  done  by  Harvard  College  in  intro- 
ducing to  America  the  culture  and  the  art  of  Europe. 
For  half  a  century  Cambridge  was  our  literary  port  of 
entry,  our  distributing  centre,  our  literary  capital. 

In  1818  Washington  Allston,  our  first  evangelist  of 
culture,  came  back  from  his  long  sojourn  in  the  art 
galleries  of  Europe,  a  member  of  the  Royal  Academy, 
to  spend  his  last  years  in  Boston  and  Cambridgeport. 
His  studio  became  the  art  centre  of  America,  an  en- 
chanted spot  amid  the  wilds  of  the  New  World,  where, 
in  the  words  of  Lowell,  "one  might  go  to  breathe 
Venetian  air  and,  better  yet,  the  very  spirit  wherein  the 
elder  brothers  of  art  labored."  In  1819  Edward  Everett, 
"the  best  Grecian"  of  his  generation,  returned  from 
Germany  and  Greece  to  take  the  chair  of  Greek  at 
Harvard,  and  to  inspire  with  his  own  boundless  enthu- 
siasm all  who  came  in  contact  with  him.  Four  years 
later  Channing  told  to  eager  audiences  of  the  treasures 
of  literature  and  art  in  the  European  capitals.  Through 
the  efforts  of  the  Harvard  scholars,  the  Greek  language 
•  257 


258  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

and  literature  soon  began  to  emerge  from  the  obscurity 
into  which  they  had  been  thrown  by  Mather  and  Barlow. 
In  1830  Felton  edited  Homer,  and  shortly  afterwards 
Isocrates  and  ^Eschylus.  Under  the  influence  of  Buck- 
minster,  Felton,  Ripley,  Emerson,  and  others,  the  German 
literature  and  philosophy  began  to  be  better  known.  In 
1838  Ripley  published  the  first  two  volumes  of  his 
Foreign  Standard  Literature,  a  series  soon  to  be  ex- 
panded into  fourteen  volumes ;  two  years  later  Felton 
translated  Mentzel's  Grerman  Literature,  and  in  1848 
Dr.  Hedge,  German  professor  at  Harvard,  published  his 
valuable  Prose  Writers  of  Germany.  The  effect  upon 
American  thought  and  literature  of  the  influx  of 
German  philosophy  has  been  already  noted. 

But  the  American  people  as  a  whole  knew  little  of  Con- 
tinental literature  until  Longfellow  "  opened  the  sluices 
through  which  the  flood  of  German  sentimental  poetry 
poured  into  the  United  States."  Longfellow's  early 
translations  from  the  Spanish,  the  French,  and  the 
German,  and  his  Hyperion,  which  is  full  of  the  intoxi- 
cating Rhine  wine,  mark  an  epoch  in  the  history  of 
American  poetry.  He  did  for  Germany  and  the  Conti- 
nent of  Europe  what  Irving  had  done  for  England. 
Full  freighted  as  he  was  with  all  that  was  purest  and 
best  in  the  Old  World  culture,  and  uniting  with  this 
a  rare  sympathy  and  a  sweetly  gentle  spirit,  he  com- 
manded from  the  very  first  an  audience  of  his  country- 
men such  as  no  American  had  ever  won  before  or  will 
ever  win  again.  With  the  appearance  of  Longfellow 
and  the  remarkable  group  that  soon  gathered  about 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS.  259 

him,  the  influence  of  Cambridge  on  our  literature 
reached  its  highest  point.  Until  the  day  of  Long- 
fellow's death  Cambridge  was  the  literary  centre  of 
America,  and  the  house  of  the  gentle  poet  the  focal 
point  of  cis- Atlantic  poetry. 

SUGGESTED  READING. — Lowell's  "Cambridge  Thirty  Years 
Ago,"  and  Holmes'  "  Old  Cambridge." 

HENKY  WADSWOKTH  LONGFELLOW  (1807-1882). 

"The  poet  of  hope,  home,  and  history."  — Butterworth. 

11 1  think  that  the  poet  himself,  reading  his  own  sweet  songs,  felt  the 
apostolic  nature  of  his  mission,  —  that  it  was  religious,  in  the  etymo- 
logical sense  of  the  word,  the  binding  back  of  America  to  the  Old 
World  taste  and  imagination.  Our  true  rise  in  poetry  may  be  dated 
from  Longfellow's  method  of  exciting  an  interest  in  it."  —  Stedman. 

Life.  —  (The  standard  life  of  the  poet  is  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Longfellow's  Life  of  Henry  Wadsworth  Long- 
fellow, two  volumes,  which,  with  the  same  author's 
Final  Memorials,  gives  a  wonderfully  complete  and 
accurate  picture  of  Longfellow  and  his  friends.  T.  W. 
Higginson's  Life,  American  Men  of  Letters  Series,  1902,  is 
the  best  short  life.  See  also  W.  S.  Kennedy's  "scrap  book," 
H.  W.  Longfellow :  Biography,  Anecdote,  Letters,  Criti- 
cism; F.  H.  Underwood's  appreciative  study  of  Long- 
fellow, and  E.  S.  Robertson's  Life  in  the  Great  Writers 
Series.  For  a  complete  bibliography  of  the  poet's  works 
see  Kennedy's  Life,  and  also  Monthly  Reference  Lists  of 
the  Providence  Public  Library  for  February,  1882. 
R.  H.  Stoddard's  Homes  and  Haunts  of  our  [six]  Elder 
Poets,  and  Tributes  to  Longfellow  and  Emerson  by  the 


260  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  are  very  helpful  and 
interesting.  Gannett's  Studies  in  Longfellow  is  well-nigh 
indispensable  as  a  guide  to  an  intelligent  classroom 
study  of  the  poet's  work.) 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  soul  and  centre  of  the  Cam- 
bridge group  of  scholars  and  poets  was  not  a  native  of 
Cambridge  nor  even  an  alumnus  of  Harvard  College. 
Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow  was  born  in  Portland, 
Maine,  at  a  time  when  that  now  flourishing  city  was  but  a 
forest-bound  hamlet.  Like  Dana  and  Bryant  and  Holmes, 
he  inherited  some  of  the  best  blood  of  New  England, 
being  able,  on  his  mother's  side,  to  trace  his  lineage  back 
to  John  Alden  and  Priscilla  of  early  Puritan  fame.  The 
Longfellows  also  were  of  a  sturdy  yeoman  stock.  The 
poet's  great-grandfather  was  a  village  blacksmith  in 
Portland,  who  by  hard  toil  and  strict  economy  had 
managed  to  send  one  of  his  ten  children  to  Harvard 
College,  while  the  poet's  father,  a  son  of  this  earliest 
scholar  of  the  family,  himself  a  Harvard  graduate,  was 
a  leading  lawyer  in  Portland  and  at  one  time  a  mem- 
ber of  Congress.  Henry  Wadsworth,  the  culminating 
flower  of  the  Longfellow  family,  was  born  Feb.  27, 
1807.  His  early  life  was  a  most  happy  one.  He  was 
surrounded  by  books  and  an  atmosphere  of  culture  and 
refinement ;  he  was  given  every  educational  advantage 
that  his  native  town  could  afford,  and  in  his  fourteenth 
year  he  was  sent,  fully  prepared,  to  Bowdoin  College, 
where  he  became  a  member  of  the  famous  class  of  1825. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "  My  Lost  Youth,"  and  "  Parker  CL,  ve- 
land." 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS.  261 

For  a  time  after  his  graduation  Longfellow  was  un- 
settled as  to  his  future.  Even  during  his  college  days 
he  had  turned  his  eyes  anxiously  toward  the  unknown 
into  which  he  was  soon  to  go.  Golden  visions  of  a 
literary  life  even  then  were  beginning  to  flit  before  him, 
but  his  practical  father  had  given  little  encouragement. 
In  1824  he  had  written  to  his  son :  "  A  literary  life, 
to  one  who  has  the  means  of  support,  must  be  very 
pleasant,  but  there  is  not  enough  wealth  in  this  country 
to  afford  encouragement  and  patronage  to  merely  liter- 
ary men." 

The  literary  outlook  in  those  days  was  indeed  a  dis- 
couraging one.  While  in  college  Longfellow  had  read 
with  intense  enjoyment  The  Sketch  Book,  then  in  its 
first  edition,  and  he  had  written  in  his  diary  shortly 
afterwards  that  another  novel,  The  Pilot,  by  the  author 
of  The  Spy,  was  out.  But  these  books,  together  with 
Bryant's  early  poems,  represented  almost  the  sum  total 
of  American  literature  worthy  of  the  name.  The  future 
seemed  dark  and  forbidding  even  as  seen  through  the 
eyes  of  a  youthful  poet,  and  so,  with  a  sigh  of  regret, 
Longfellow  gave  up  his  dream  and  resigned  himself 
to  the  study  of  his  father's  and  grandfather's  profession. 
But  during  the  autumn  following  his  graduation  from 
college,  there  came  an  event  that  changed  the  whole 
current  of  his  life.  His  alma  mater,  with  rare  judgment 
and  a  far-sightedness  that  seems  most  remarkable,  offered 
to  him  before  he  had  completed  his  nineteenth  year  her 
newly  founded  chair  of  modern  languages,  and  Long- 
fellow, eagerly  accepting  the  offer,  spent  the  next  three 


262  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

years  in  preliminary  study  in  France,  Spain,  Italy,  and 
Germany. 

"Outre  Mer,"  the  title  of  Longfellow's  first  original 
work,  may  be  taken  as  the  motto  which  dominated  his 
early  literary  life.  The  poet's  first  impulse  and  inspira- 
tion came  from  "beyond  the  sea."  Outre  Mer  is  a 
picture  of  romantic  Europe,  —  Europe  as  seen  by  the 
fresh,  joyous  eyes  of  a  thoroughly  healthy,  happy,  poetic 
youth,  whose  life  had  been  confined  to  a  dull  provincial 
village  and  to  the  unromantic  halls  of  a  frontier  college. 
The  book  fairly  effervesces  with  its  author's  boundless 
sense  of  freedom,  his  irrepressible  spirits,  and  his  boyish 
enjoyment.  Longfellow  approached  the  Continent  as 
Irving  had  approached  old  England,  —  almost  with 
reverence.  Outre  Mer  was  another  Sketch  Book,  — 
every  reviewer  of  the  early  editions  made  mention  of 
this  fact.  Longfellow  did  not  deny  the  source  of  his 
inspiration.  "  I  also  am  writing  a  book,"  he  wrote  from 
Gb'ttingen  in  1829,  "  a  kind  of  Sketch  Book  of  scenes  in 
France,  Spain,  and  Italy."  The  same  charm,  the  same 
crystal  clearness  of  expression,  the  same  joyous  style, 
the  same  "  melancholy  tenderness  and  atmosphere  of 
reverie,"  is  in  each,  and  yet  Outre  Mer  is  as  distinctively 
Longfellow's  as  The  Sketch  Book  is  living's* 

In  1839  Longfellow  published  his  second  prose  work, 
Hyperion.  The  four  years  since  the  publication  of  Outre 
Mer  had  been  eventful  ones.  He  had  been  called  after 
five  years  at  Bowdoin,  to  Harvard,  to  the  important  chair 
of  modern  languages  just  vacated  by  the  scholarly 
George  Ticknor,  the  historian  of  Spanish  literature; 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS.  263 

he  had  journeyed  a  second  time  to  Europe,  and  in 
Rotterdam  he  had  met  with  the  first  great  sorrow  of 
his  life  in  the  death  of  his  young  wife ;  and  after  two 
years  of  intense  study,  he  had  returned  to  commence 
his  work  at  Harvard.  Hyperion  is  another  Sketch  Book, 
but  it  is  richer,  more  vigorous,  more  matured  than  Outre 
Mer.  The  atmosphere  is  Switzerland  and  Germany, — 
the  Germany  of  Uhland  and  of  Heine.  Wild  legends 
of  the  Rhine,  translations  of  German  lyrics,  fragments 
of  criticism,  and  bits  of  scenery  and  travel  are  strung 
upon  a  slender  thread  of  story,  and  all  is  tinted  with  the 
vague,  mellow  hues  of  the  German  "  Mahrchenwelt." 
The  book  has  an  autobiographic  value.  It  is  no  secret 
that  the  hero,  Paul  Fleming,  was  Longfellow  himself, 
and  that  the  heroine  was  Miss  Frances  Appleton,  who 
afterwards  became  his  wife.  "  He  met  her,"  says  his  bi- 
ographer, "in  Switzerland,  had  travelled  with  her  a  fort- 
night there,  and  had  renewed  the  acquaintance  when  the 
family  returned  to  Boston  in  1837.  The  portrait,  the 
feelings  recorded  in  the  story,  are  undoubtedly  true. 
The  incidents  are  imaginary.  Into  this  romance  the 
author  put  the  glow,  the  fervor,  the  fever,  of  his  heart." 
Hyperion,  while  not  a  great  book,  was  nevertheless 
an  epoch-making  one.  Like  Irving's  Sketch  Book  and 
Alhambra,  it  opened  up  to  Americans  a  new  world.  It 
is  a  book  for  youth,  to  whom  it  brings  revelations  and 
visions,  and  America  at  the  time  of  its  first  publication 
was  in  its  youth.  It  opened  the  splendid  vista  of  Conti- 
nental beauty  and  romance  and  it  brought  a  new  longing 
into  a  thousand  American  homes.  Voices  of  the  Night 


264  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

(1839),  Longfellow's  first  volume  of  poems,  was  in  the 
same  key.  The  translations  were  mostly  from  the  Ger- 
man and  the  nine  original  poems  are  full  of  the  "  sadness 
and  longing  "  of  the  Old  World  singers.  The  romantic 
melancholy,  the  gorgeous  imagery,  the  sweet,  lilting 
measures,  the  noble  appeals  to  courage  and  hope,  all 
struck  home  to  the  popular  heart,  and  into  thousands  of 
other  American  homes  came  the  first  ray  of  beauty,  the 
first  longing  for  brighter  things. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Hyperion;  Voices  of  the  Night. 

Ballads  and  Heart  Poems. — During  the  period  between 
the  publication  of  Voices  of  the  Night  and  Evangeline^ 
Longfellow  wrote  his  most  popular  ballads  and  lyrics. 
His  second  book  of  poems,  Ballads  and  Other  Poems 
(1841),  which  immediately  indicated  his  true  place  in 
the  poetic  world,  contained  such  well-known  favorites 
as  "  The  Skeleton  in  Armor,"  "  The  Wreck  of  the  Hes- 
perus," "The  Village  Blacksmith,"  "The  Rainy  Day," 
"Maidenhood,"  and  "Excelsior";  while  The  Belfry 
of  Bruges  (1845)  added  to  these  "The  Day  is  Done," 
"  The  Old  Clock  on  the  Stairs,"  and  "  The  Arrow  and 
the  Song." 

As  a  ballad  writer  Longfellow  has  had  few  superiors 
among  American  poets.  The  requisites  of  the  ballad 
are  most  exacting.  It  must  tell  a  simple  tale  from  one 
point  of  view,  rush  at  once  to  the  story  and  end  as  sud- 
denly. It  must  be  short,  concise,  rapid,  and  every  word 
must  count.  "  The  Wreck  of  the  Hesperus  "  and  "  The 
Skeleton  in  Armor  "  stand  at  the  head  of  Longfellow's 


THE   CAMBRIDGE  POETS.  265 

ballads.  The  latter  is  full  of  the  true  Viking  dash  and 
fire.  He  must  indeed  be  devoid  of  poetic  feeling  who 
is  not  thrilled  by  the  grand  crescendo 

"  As  with  his  wings  aslant, 
Sails  the  fierce  cormorant, 
Seeking  some  rocky  haunt, 

With  his  prey  laden, 
So  toward  the  open  main, 
Beating  to  sea  again, 
Through  the  wild  hurricane, 

Bore  I  the  maiden." 

But  it  is  as  the  poet  of  the  heart  and  the  home  that 
Longfellow  is  most  widely  known.  He  has  touched  all 
the  chords  of  those  experiences  which  are  common  to 
mankind, — the  aspirations  and  the  nameless  melancholy 
of  youth  ;  the  dream  of  love ;  the  endearments  of  home  ; 
the  fierce  battle  of  manhood;  the  visit  of  death;  the 
vacant  chair ;  the  sunny  memories  of  age.  In  thousands 
of  American  homes  Longfellow  is  the  only  poet. 
He  has  comforted  thousands  of  sorrowing  hearts  and 
pointed  thousands  to  the  star  of  hope.  He  has  made 
the  title  "  poet "  a  holy  one,  and  forever  silenced  those 
materialistic  souls  who  contend  that  verse  writers  have 
no  mission  among  men. 

REQUIRED  READING.  — The  nine  poems  mentioned  above. 

The  twelve  years  following  the  publication  of  The 
Belfry  of  Bruges  (1845)  was  the  period  of  Longfellow's 
greatest  literary  activity.  In  the  following  year  he  pub- 
lished Evangeline,  by  many  considered  his  master  work ; 
in  18-19  appeared  his  third  prose  work,  Kavanagh^  a 


266  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

novel  of  New  England  village  life.  The  Seaside  and 
Fireside  (1850)  contained  the  well-known  poem,  "  The 
Building  of  the  Ship."  One  year  later  he  completed 
The  Golden  Legend,  a  mediaeval  romance  of  the  Rhine, 
which  he  afterwards  incorporated  into  his  long  work, 
Ohristus.  In  1854  he  resigned  his  professor's  chair  at 
Harvard  to  devote  his  whole  time  to  literary  work.  One 
year  later  he  published  Hiawatha  and  in  1858  he  com- 
pleted his  second  long  poem  in  hexameter  verse,  The 
Courtship  of  Miles  Standish. 

Evangeline.  —  (For  the  history  of  Acadie  see  Ban- 
croft, 1883  edition,  II.,  425,  and  Parkman's  Montcalm 
and  Wolfe.  See  also  Warner's  Baddeck.  For  a  treat- 
ment of  the  English  hexameter  see  Arnold's  On  Trans- 
lating Homer,  and  Stedman,  VI.,  4.)  This  beautiful 
poem,  which  is  called  by  Stedman  "the  flower  of 
American  idyls  "  and  by  Howells  "  the  best  poem  of  our 
age,"  is  founded  upon  one  of  the  most  pathetic  inci- 
dents in  American  history,  —  the  expulsion  by  the 
English  of  the  French  settlers  in  Nova  Scotia  in  1755. 
Longfellow  used  for  the  poem  a  metre  which  had  been 
but  seldom  used  in  English  literature,  —  the  old  hexam- 
-  eter  of  Homer  and  Virgil.  As  a  result,  few  poems  in 
American  literature  have  been  more  criticised.  Poe, 
who  delighted  to  pose  as  a  metrical  expert,  assailed  it 
without  mercy.  (For  Lowell's  opinion  see  the  Fable 
for  Critics.)  It  seems  to  be  the  opinion  generally  of 
critics,  that  the  real  classic  hexameter  cannot  be  repro- 
duced in  English.  The  language  is  too  harsh  and  un- 
bending, and  the  quantity  of  English  syllables  depends 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS.  267 

upon  accent  and  is  not  unchangeable,  as  is  the  case  with 
the  Greek.  There  is  much  to  criticise  in  Longfellow's 
hexameters.  He  ignored  the  spondees  which  add  such 
a  peculiar  charm  to  the  Greek  and  Latin  epics;  he 
sometimes  wrenched  words  violently  to  bring  them  to 
his  use ;  he  has  many  faulty  lines  that  are  not  even 
good  prose.  There  is  a  fatal  facility  about  the  metre 
that  is  very  liable  to  make  the  poem  written  in  it  mo- 
notonous, "  sounding,"  as  one  critic  has  said,  "  like  hoof- 
beats  on  a  muddy  road."  But  notwithstanding  these 
criticisms,  all  must  admit  that  to  change  the  metre  of 
Evangeline  would  be  to  rob  it  of  much  of  its  beauty.  It 
has  a  sweet  lilting  movement  very  pleasing  to  the  popular 
ear  and  it  is  peculiarly  fitted  to  the  sentimental,  melan- 
choly atmosphere  of  the  poem.  There  are  lines  in  it 
that  lose  nothing  when  compared  with  the  best  of  the 
classical  hexameters.  The  twenty-three  lines  describ- 
ing the  burning  of  Grand  Pre*,  commencing  "  Suddenly 
arose  from  the  south,"  while  not  perfect  metrically,  are 
nevertheless  Homeric  in  their  grandeur. 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  STUDY.  —  For  the  story  of  the  Arcadians 
charmingly  told  read  Grandfather's  Chair,  II.,  8.  Read  metrically 
a  few  pages  of  the  poem  pointing  out  particularly  faulty  lines,  as 
e.g.,  11.  82,  150,  etc.  Point  out  strikingly  sonorous  lines,  as  e.g., 
11.  793-797.  Notice  the  two  parts  of  each  line.  See  if  the  cze- 
sural  pause  comes  always  in  the  same  place.  What  predominates 
in  the  poem,  character  sketching,  nature  study,  or  dramatic  inci- 
dent ?  Could  the  poem  be  called  a  panorama  of  beautiful  pict- 
ures ?  How  many  different  classes  of  men  are  described  ?  Make 
a  list.  Is  Evangeline  sharply  characterized  as  are  some  of  the 
great  heroines  of  tragedy  ?  Can  we  paint  a  clear  mental  picture 
of  her  from  the  data  given  from  Longfellow  ?  Find  all  the  lines 


268  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

in  the  poem  that  describe  her  in  any  way.  Notice  the  variety  of 
scenery  described,  —  Canadian  forests,  southern  bayous  by  moon- 
light, prairies,  and  great  American  rivers.  Trace  upon  a  map  the 
journeys  of  Evangeline  as  far  as  revealed  by  the  poem.  What 
variety  of  natural  scenery  does  Longfellow  seem  to  prefer  ?  Com- 
pare 11. 148-170  with  the  Indian  Summer  poems  of  Bryant  and  Whit- 
tier.  Compare  11. 114-133  with  Longfellow's  "  Village  Blacksmith." 
Compare  11.  171-267  with  Snow  Bound  and  "  The  Cotter's  Saturday 
Night."  Notice  Longfellow's  constant  use  of  analogy,  as  in  1.  454. 
Find  other  examples.  How  might  11.  1125-1165  suggest  that  the 
idea  of  Hiawatha  was  already  in  Longfellow's  mind  ? 

Hiawatha. —  "  This  Indian  Edda — if  I  may  so  call  it — is  founded 
on  a  tradition  prevalent  among  the  North  American  Indians,  of  a 
personage  of  miraculous  birth,  who  was  sent  among  them  to  clear 
their  rivers,  forests,  and  fishing  grounds,  and  to  teach  them  the  arts 
of  peace.  He  was  known  among  different  tribes  by  several  names. 
.  .  .  Mr.  Schoolcraft  gives  an  account  of  him  in  his  Algic  Re- 
searches, Vol.  I.,  p.  134;  and  in  his  History,  Condition,  and  Pros-, 
pects  of  the  Indian  Tribes  of  the  United  States,  III.,  p.  314,  may  be 
found  the  Iroquois  form  of  the  tradition,  derived  from  the  verbal 
narratives  of  an  Onondaga  chief.  Into  this  old  tradition,  I  have 
woven  other  curious  Indian  legends  drawn  chiefly  from  the  various 
and  valuable  writings  of  Mr.  Schoolcraft,  to  whom  the  literary 
world  is  greatly  indebted  for  his  indefatigable  zeal  in  rescuing 
from  oblivion  so  much  of  the  legendary  lore  of  the  Indians.  The 
scene  of  the  poem  is  among  the  Ojibways  on  the  southern  shore 
of  Lake  Superior,  in  the  region  between  the  Pictured  Rocks  and 
the  Grand  Sable."  —  From  the  Author's  Preface. 

Hiawatha  is,  without  doubt,  the  most  original  con- 
tribution that  Longfellow  made  to  our  literature.  Many 
critics  have  joined  with  O.  B.  Fro  thing-ham  and  Anthony 
Trollope,  the  English  novelist,  in  declaring  it  the  "  poet's 
masterpiece."  Professor  Richardson  calls  it  "  our  near- 
est approach  to  an  American  Epic."  It  has  certainly 
caught,  as  no  other  poem  has,  the  spirit  of  the  forest ; 
the  fantastic  mythology  of  a  fast-fading  race ;  the 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS.  269 

"  Legends  and  traditions, 
With  the  odors  of  the  forest, 
With  the  dew  and  damp  of  meadows, 
With  the  curling  smoke  of  wigwams, 
With  the  rushing  of  great  rivers." 

In  Hiawatha  Longfellow  again  introduced  to  English 
readers  a  new  metre,  —  the  eight-syllabled  trochaic  meas- 
ure of  the  Finnish  epic  poem,  The  Kalevala.  "  This 
monotonous  time  beat "  seems  particularly  fitted  for  the 
primitive,  aboriginal  legends  of  Hiawatha,  with  their 
strange,  uncouth  nomenclature  and  "their  frequent 
repetitions."  Longfellow  is  unquestionably  the  only 
poet  who  has  succeeded  in  extracting  any  real  poetry 
from  the  Indian. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Hiawatha,  Chs.  III.,  VIL,  X.,  XV.,  XX. 

The  Poet  of  American  History.  —  Although  Long- 
fellow has  been  called  "  the  least  national  of  our  poets," 
one  English  critic  even  declaring  that  of  all  our  singers 
Longfellow  would  have  been  the  last  he  should  have 
guessed  to  be  an  American  had  he  "  come  across  his 
works  in  ignorance  of  the  fact,"  it  is  nevertheless  true 
that  no  other  poet,  save  Whittier  perhaps,  has  done  so 
much  to  make  poetic  our  American  history  and  tradi- 
tion. "  But  few  of  our  associates,"  said  Dr.  Ellis  before 
the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  "  can  have  studied 
our  local  and  even  national  history  more  sedulously  than 
did  Mr.  Longfellow.  He  took  the  saddest  of  our  New 
England  tragedies  and  the  sweetest  of  its  rural  home 
scenes,  the  wayside  inn,  the  alarum  of  war,  the  Indian, 
legend,  and  the  hanging  of  the  crane  in  the  modest 


270  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

household,  and  his  genius  has  invested  them  with  en- 
during charms  and  morals." 

Of  early  Puritan  life  he  has  given  us  the  brighter 
side  in  The  Courtship  of  Miles  Standish,  and  the  darker 
aspects  in  the  New  England  Tragedies.  He  has  given 
us  in  "Elizabeth"  a  charming  picture  of  Quaker  life 
and  love,  and  in  "  Paul  Revere's  Ride  "  the  most  spirited 
ballad  that  has  been  inspired  by  the  Revolution.  "  The 
Baron  of  St.  Castine,"  "The  Rhyme  of  Sir  Christo- 
pher," "  Eliot's  Oak,"  "  Lady  Wentworth,"  and  "  The 
Ballad  of  the  French  Fleet "  are  but  a  few  of  the  other 
lyrics  that  have  added  a  new  charm  to  our  early  history. 
As  the  poet  of  the  American  "seaside  and  fireside," 
Longfellow  has  again  rendered  his  native  land  a  price- 
less service.  He  is  more  and  more  coming  to  be  recog- 
nized as  the  poet  of  our  northern  ocean.  "The  Building 
of  the  Ship,"  with  its  magnificent  ending,  is  without  a 
parallel,  in  its  line,  in  English  literature;  while  such 
poems  as  "Seaweed,"  "The  Lighthouse,"  and  "The 
Fire  of  Driftwood  "  are  redolent  with  odors  of  the  vast 
ocean. 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  STUDY.  —  Make  a  list  of  Longfellow's  poems 
of  American  history  and  tradition,  arranging  them  chronologically. 
What  proportion  are  they  of  his  poetic  work  ?  Why  should  the 
story  of  John  Alden  and  Priscilla  have  had  a  peculiar  charm  for 
Longfellow?  Compare  "John  Endicott"  with  Whittier's  "Cas- 
sandra Southwick,"  "  The  King's  Missive,"  and  his  other  poems  of 
Quaker  persecution.  Compare  "  Giles  Corey "  with  Whittier's 
"  Witch's  Daughter  "  and  his  other  poems  of  witchcraft.  Find  all 
of  Longfellow's  Indian  poems.  How  do  they  compare  with  sim- 
ilar works  of  Bryant  and  Whittier?  Find  Longfellow's  anti- 
slavery  poems.  Do  they  deserve  the  criticism  that  the  poet's 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS.  271 

"very  anger  was  gentle  "?  Compare  them  with  Whittier's.  Make 
a  list  of  the  poems  of  the  sea,  and  of  the  poems  of  home  and  fireside. 
How  many  of  Longfellow's  poems  are  written  in  hexameters  ? 

Longfellow's  Last  Years  were  eventless.  His  life  had 
been  again  saddened,  in  1861,  when  his  wife  was  burned 
to  death  by  the  upsetting  of  a  candle  upon  her  dress, 
but  no  murmur  escaped  his  lips  or  embittered  his  sweet 
songs.  Year  after  year  went  by,  marked  by  the  appear- 
ance of  new  poems  and  new  volumes.  In  1863  he  pub- 
lished The  Tales  of  a  Wayside  Inn,  a  series  of  ballads 
and  lyrics  bound  together,  like  the  Canterbury  Tales,  by 
a  thread  of  story.  In  1867  he  completed  his  translation 
of  Dante's  Divine  Comedy,  a  work  that  at  once  took 
a  place  beside  the  great  translations  of  the  century. 
With  the  aid  of  Lowell  and  other  eminent  scholars, 
Longfellow  had  studied  critically  every  line  of  the  great 
poem  and  the  resulting  translation  is  as  perfect  as 
scholarship  and  care  can  make  it.  The  long  poem 
Christus  was  completed  in  1872.  In  1875,  he  read,  at 
the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  his  class  at  Bowdoin,  the 
noble  poem  Morituri  Salutamus,  which  stands  as  a 
fitting  crown  to  a  long  life  devoted  almost  wholly  to 
song.  The  Hanging  of  the  Crane  (1874),  The  Masque 
of  Pandora  (1875),  Keramos  (1878),  Ultima  Thule, 
(1880),  and  the  posthumous  tragedy  Michael  Angelo, 
completed  the  poet's  life-work. 

No  American  has  been  more  universally  beloved  than 
Longfellow.  When  he  died  in  Cambridge,  March  24, 
1882,  there  was  mourning  throughout  the  whole  land, 
All  felt  as  if  they  had  lost  a  near  and  dear  friend.  His 


272  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

last  written  words,  penned  but  a  few  days  before  his 
death,  were  in  accord  with  his  whole  life : 

u  Out  of  the  shadow  of  night 
The  world  moves  into  light ; 
It  is  daybreak  everywhere." 

He  is  the  only  American  save  Lowell  who  has  been 
given  a  monument  in  Westminster  Abbey,  where  Eng- 
land buries  her  honored  dead.  Only  a  few  others  of  for- 
eign birth  are  commemorated  within  those  sacred  walls, 
the  chief  of  these  being  the  German  composer,  Handel. 

Longfellow's  Place  in  Literature.  —  (Stedman,  Ch. 
VI. ;  Richardson,  II. ;  Whipple's  Essays  and  Reviews,  I., 
59;  Whittier's  Literary  Recreations;  Scudder's  Men  and 
Letters;  Curtis'  Literary  and  Social  Essays)  Long- 
fellow was  not  the  singer  of  fierce  and  violent  pas- 
sion, nor  of  the  profounder  depths  of  tragedy;  he  was 
not  a  Shakespeare  nor  a  Milton ;  he  was  not  profound 
like  Emerson,  nor  intensely  individual  like  Poe  ;  he  was 
not  strikingly  original  like  Whittier,  nor  grand  and  ele- 
mental like  Bryant.  He  was  a  singer  in  all  keys.  He 
understood  all  the  stops  in  the  great  organ  and  struck 
all  of  its  chords.  As  a  craftsman  he  has  had  few  equals 
among  those  who  have  used  our  language.  His  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  literatures  of  all  lands,  his 
thorough  culture,  "his  keen  appreciation  of  the  beauty 
and  power  of  art,"  made  him  an  artist  in  the  most  deli- 
cate sense  of  the  word.  His  sense  of  melody  was  well- 
nigh  faultless.  Whitman,  who  viewed  poetry  from  a 
unique  standpoint,  complained  that  Longfellow  had  "an 
idiocrasy,  almost  a  sickness  of  verbal  melody." 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS.  273 

The  genial,  loving,  kindly  nature  of  the  poet  shines 
from  all  his  work.  He  was  universal  in  his  sympathies ; 
his  poetry  is  "the  gospel  of  good- will  set  to  music." 
So,  while  Longfellow  can  never  be  ranked  among  the 
great  poets  who  have  brought  burning  messages  to  men, 
he  will  ever  remain  the  most  popular  of  poets,  the  one 
whose  sweet  sympathy  has  dried  the  tears  of  thousands. 
"  His  song  was  a  household  service,  the  ritual  of  our 
feastings  and  mournings ;  and  often  it  rehearsed  for  us 
the  tales  of  many  lands,  or,  best  of  all,  the  legends  of 


our  own." 


XX. 

THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS  (2). 

OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES  (1809-1894). 

'  'Dr.  Holmes  bore  much  the  same  relation  to  Boston  that  Dr. 
Johnson  did  to  London."  —  C.  F.  Johnson. 

"The  most  concise,  apt,  and  effective  poet  of  the  school  of  Pope 
this  country  has  ever  produced."  —  Tuckerman. 

"  Who  else  wears  so  many  crowns  as  he  —  the  irresistible  humorist 
and  wit ;  the  liberal,  bold,  profound,  and  subtle  thinker  ;  the  poet,  the 
essayist,  the  novelist ;  the  man  of  science  ;  the  consummate  teacher ; 
the  skilful  physician ;  the  unselfish  patriot ;  the  honest,  faithful, 
tender  friend  ?  "  — Professor  Young. 

Life  (by  W.  S.  Kennedy  and  by  E.  E.  Brown.  The 
final  and  authorized  life  of  Holmes  is  that  by  John 
T.  Morse,  Jr.,  1896).  Few  men  have  made  so  com- 
plete a  revelation  of  their  lives  and  inner  selves 
as  has  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes.  He  was  "his  own 
Boswell."  Almost  everything  that  he  wrote  has  an 
autobiographic  value.  The  student  who  reads  care- 
fully the  thirteen  volumes  of  his  works  has  gained  as 
perfect  a  mental  picture  of  the  genial  autocrat  as  can  be 
conveyed  by  mere  words.  All  biographies  of  Holmes 
are  well-nigh  valueless  in  the  presence  of  his  own  auto- 
biographical work. 

274 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS.  275 

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  READINGS  FROM  HOLMES. 
(REFERENCES  ARE  TO  THE  RIVERSIDE  EDITION,  1892.) 

1.  Glimpses  of  Old  Cambridge  and  the  author's  child- 
hood :  —  The  Poet  at  the  Breakfast  Table,  pp.  10-32 ;  A  Mortal 
Antipathy,  pp.  22-32. 

2.  School  days,  1819-1825 :  —  Pages  from  an  Old  Volume 
of  Life,  pp.  239-259. 

3.  The  class  of  1829,  Harvard :  —  Over  the  Teacups,  pp. 
28-30 ;  Poems  of  the  class  of  1829. 

4.  Student  days  in  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  1830- 
1833 :  —Medical  Essays,  pp.  420-440. 

5.  First  visit  to  Europe,  1833-1835 :  —  Our  One  Hundred 
Days  in  Europe,  pp.  1—8. 

6.  Early  literary  work,  1830-1857 :  —  A  Mortal  Antipathy t 
pp.  1-12. 

7.  The  Autocrat  series  : — Introduction  to  The  Autocrat 
of  the  Breakfast  Table;  Over  the  Teacups,  pp.  303-305. 

8.  "  My  Hunt  After  the  Captain,"  1862 :  —  Pages  from  an 
Old  Volume  of  Life,  pp.  16-77. 

9.  Memoirs  of  Motley   and  Emerson: — A  Mortal  An- 
tipathy, pp.  13-20. 

10.  Our  One  Hundred  Days  in  Europe,  1886. 

11.  Over  the  Teacups,  Introduction. 

"  I  took  my  first  draught  of  that  fatal  mixture  called  atmospheric 
air  on  the  29th  of  August,  1809.  My  father's  record  of  the  fact  is 
before  me  on  a  page  of  the  *  Massachusetts  Register '  in  the  form 
of  a  brief  foot-note  thus  :  '  =  29.  son  b.'  The  sand  which  he  threw 
on  the  fresh  ink  is  glittering  on  it  still." — Letter  to  the  New  York 
Critic. 

The  poet's  father,  the  penner  of  this  four-letter 
record,  was  the  Rev.  Abiel  Holmes,  for  forty  years 
pastor  of  the  first  parish  in  Cambridge  and  author  of 


276  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

The  Annals  of  America,  a  scholarly  work  of  much  value- 
The  poet's  mother,  a  daughter  of  the  distinguished 
lawyer,  Oliver  Wendell,  could  trace  her  descent  from 
the  Quincys  and  the  Bradstreets,  —  the  best  blood  of 
New  England.  Holmes  not  only  inherited  an  intellect 
refined  by  generations  of  culture,  but  he  spent  his  early 
years  in  the  shadow  of  the  great  university  and  in  a 
mellow  atmosphere  of  culture  and  refinement.  No  man 
could  have  better  reason  to  say  as  he  did  in  after  years : 
"  I  go  for  the  man  who  inherits  family  traditions  and  the 
cumulative  humanities  of  at  least  four  or  five  genera- 
tions. Above  all  things,  as  a  child  he  should  have 
tumbled  about  in  a  library.  All  men  are  afraid  of  books 
that  have  not  handled  them  from  infancy." 

Holmes  entered  Harvard  in  1825,  the  year  in  which 
Hawthorne  and  Longfellow  received  their  degrees  at 
Bowdoin,  and  a  year  before  Poe  entered  the  Univer- 
sity of  Virginia.  His  college  career  was  a  brilliant  one. 
He  ranked  high  in  his  studies,  and  he  was  class  poet  at 
the  close  of  his  course,  an  honor  gained  by  his  sparkling 
contributions  to  the  Collegian,  some  of  the  best-known 
of  which  were  "  The  Spectre  Pig,"  "  The  Height  of  the 
Ridiculous,"  and  "  Evening :  by  a  Tailor." 

Holmes'  class,  in  many  respects  the  most  remarkable 
one  ever  graduated  from  Harvard,  had  among  its  mem- 
bers such  famous  men  as  James  Freeman  Clarke,  Ben- 
jamin Pierce,  the  mathematician,  Samuel  F.  Smith, 
author  of  "America,"  W.  H.  Channing,  Benjamin  R. 
Curtis,  Samuel  May,  and  others  nearly  as  well  known. 
Holmes  has  celebrated  this  class  in  a  remarkable  series 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS.  277 

of  lyrics,  —  perhaps  the  best  occasional  poems  in  our 
literature. 

The  reverend  father  of  the  poet  had  designated  his 
son  for  the  pulpit.  Holmes  saw  more  of  an  opening  in 
the  legal  profession,  but  after  a  year  spent  in  reading 
Blackstone  and  Coke,  he  decided  to  take  up  the  study 
of  medicine,  and  accordingly  spent  two  years  and  a  half 
in  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  afterwards  going  abroad 
for  three  years  to  finish  his  studies  in  Paris  and  Edin- 
burgh. On  his  return  to  America  he  was,  in  1838, 
appointed  professor  of  anatomy  and  physiology  at 
Dartmouth  College,  and,  in  1847,  was  called  to  the 
same  chair  at  Harvard,  which  chair  he  held  for  thirty- 
five  years,  resigning,  in  1882,  that  he  might  devote  his 
whole  time  to  literary  work. 

Holmes'  Literary  Life  may  be  divided  into  two  dis- 
tinct periods :  the  first  ending  in  1857,  characterized  by 
his  early  work  as  a  poet;  the  second  marked  by  his 
work  in  the  various  departments  of  prose. 

Had  Holmes  died  in  1857,  eight  years  after  Poe  — 
who  was  born  the  same  year  —  had  closed  his  life-work, 
he  would  have  been  remembered  in  literature  only  as 
the  author  of  two  exquisite  lyrics  and  a  few  genuinely 
humorous  poems  like  "  The  Ballad  of  the  Oysterrnan," 
"  The  Dorchester  Giant,"  "  The  Comet,"  "  The  Tread- 
mill Song,"  and  "The  Height  of  the  Ridiculous." 
Holmes  has  characterized  this  period  of  his  literary  life 
as  that  of  his  "  First  Portfolio." 

It  "  had  boyhood  written  on  every  page.  A  single  passionate 
putcry  when  the  old  war-ship  I  had  read  about  in  the  broa.clsidej 


278  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

that  were  a  part  of  our  kitchen  literature,  and  in  the  Naval 
ument,  was  threatened  with  demolition;  a  few  verses,  suggested 
at  the  sight  of  old  Major  Melville  in  his  cocked  hat  and  breeches, 
were  the  best  scraps  that  came  out  of  that  first  Portfolio,  which 
was  soon  closed  that  it  should  not  interfere  with  the  duties  of  a 
profession  authorized  to  claim  all  the  time  and  thought  which 
would  have  been  otherwise  expended  in  filling  it.  During  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century  the  first  Portfolio  remained  closed  for  the  greater 
part  of  the  time.  Only  now  and  then  it  would  be  taken  up  and 
opened,  and  something  drawn  from  it  for  a  special  occasion,  more 
particularly  for  the  annual  reunions  of  a  certain  class  of  which  I 
was  a  member."  —  Introduction  to  A  Mortal  Antipathy. 

The  lyrics  "Old  Ironsides"  and  "The  Last  Leaf" 
gave  Holmes  at  the  very  start  a  secure  place  among 
American  poets.  The  former,  called  by  Bryant  "the 
most  spirited  of  naval  lyrics,"  has  been  declaimed  by 
schoolboys  for  more  than  half  a  century,  and  will  prob- 
ably hold  its  place  with  the  half-dozen  most  popular 
poems  in  our  literature.  "  The  Last  Leaf,"  which,  as 
Professor  Richardson  wittily  suggests,  stands  upon  the 
first  leaf  of  Holmes'  published  works,  deserves  Abra- 
ham Lincoln's  characterization  as  "  inexpressibly  touch- 
ing.'* The  great  statesman  never  tired  of  that  exquisite 

minor  chord, 

"  The  mossy  marbles  rest 
On  the  lips  that  he  has  pressed 

In  their  bloom ; 

And  the  names  he  loved  to  hear 
Have  been  carved  for  many  a  year 

On  the  tomb." 

Had  Holmes  written  nothing  else,  he  would  not  be 
forgotten. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "  Old  Ironsides,"  "  The  Last  Leaf,"  and 
the  five  humorous  lyrics  mentioned  above. 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS.  279 

1.  "  The  Chambered  Nautilus,"  which  appeared  first  in 
The  Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table  in  1857,  and  which 
is  the  high- water  mark  of  the  poet's  poetical  achieve- 
ment, may  be  taken  as  the  representative  of  the  more 
serious  products  of  Holmes'  Muse.     "  The  Living  Tem- 
ple," "Voiceless,"  "Sun   and   Shadow,"    "The   Silent 
Melody,"  "Avis,"    "Iris,"    and   "Under   the  Violets," 
the  best  of  the  poems  of  graver  moods,  are  also  full  of 
rare  beauty  and  artistic  symbolism.     Some  of  Holmes' 
historical  ballads,  like    "  Grandmother's   Story  of   the 
Bunker  Hill  Battle"  and  the  "Ballad  of   the  Boston 
Tea  Party,"  are   also  to   be   classed  among  the  poet's 
more  serious  and  substantial  work.    In  his  later  patriotic 
lyrics,  the  "  Flower  of  Liberty,"  4.c  God  Save  the  Flag," 
and  "  Union  and  Liberty,"  are  to  be  found  the  same 
passion  and  fire  that  burned  so  fiercely  in   the  "  Old 
Ironsides  "  of  earlier  years. 

2.  "The  Deacon's  Masterpiece,"  which  also  appeared 
first  in  The  Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table,  is  the  best 
representative  of  the  poet's  broadly  humorous  work. 
Wit  and  humor,  indeed,  are  Holmes'  most  prominent 
characteristics.     As  early  as  1848,  Lowell,  in  the  Fable 
for  Critics,  wrote : 

"  There's  Holmes  who  is  famous  among  you  for  wit, 
A  Ley  den  jar  always  full  charged  from  which  flit 
Electrical  tingles  of  hit  after  hit." 

Holmes'  wit  sparkles  from  every  page  that  he  has 
written.  It  is  mingled  with  the  pathos  of  his  more 
serious  poems,  when  it  becomes  humor  of  the  truest 
kind.  To  divide  his  poems  into  two  classes,  his  hu> 


280  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

morous  and  his  non-humorous  work,  would  be  to  sepa- 
rate a  few  of  his  more  serious  poems  from  the  great  bulk 
of  his  poetical  product.  The  best  poems  represented  by 
"  The  Deacon's  Masterpiece  "  are  "  How  the  Old  Horse 
won  the  Bet,"  "Parson  Turell's  Legacy,"  and  "The 
Broomstick  Train." 

3.  Occasional  Poems.  —  By  actual  count  forty-seven 
per  cent,  of  Holmes'  poems  were  written  for  various 
occasions.  During  the  last  period  of  his  literary  life  the 
greater  part  of  his  verses  were  written  to  order.  One 
has  only  to  glance  over  the  list  to  realize  how  vast  and 
varied  were  the  demands  made  upon  his  Muse.  Class 
reunions,  centennials  of  every  kind,  dedications  of  all 
possible  things,  anniversaries,  arrivals  and  departures  of 
celebrated  guests  and  prominent  men,  meetings  of  medi- 
cal, agricultural,  and  Phi  Beta  Kappa  societies,  festivals 
and  jubilees,  all  found  in  Holmes  a  ready  laureate. 
The  Muse  of  most  poets  refuses  to  be  commanded,  but 
Holmes'  Pegasus  was  always  bridled  and  ready  for 
flight.  He  was  never  more  brilliant  than  with  "  a  poem 
served  to  order."  At  public  banquets,  where  wit  and 
cheer  ran  high,  Holmes  was  at  his  best,  and  his  spark- 
ling verses,  "  popping  with  the  corks,"  were  always  the 
very  best  thing  of  the  occasion.  Says  Dr.  Hale :  "  Per- 
fect as  they  are  to  the  reader,  they  are  more  than  perfect 
when  he  stands  on  a  bench  at  a  college  dinner  and  with 
all  his  overflow  of  humor,  of  pathos,  and  of  eloquence 
recites  them." 

For  half  a  century  Holmes  was  the  laureate  of  Har- 
vard College.  Alma  mater  was  to  him  more  than  it  has 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS.  281 

been  to  any  other  American  poet.  Forty-four  of  his 
poems  were  written  to  celebrate  his  college  class,  and 
many  others  were  composed  for  Phi  Beta  Kappa  meet- 
ings and  college  celebrations.  While  by  no  means  the 
leader  of  the  Cambridge  group  of  poets,  Holmes  seemed 
the  one  of  all  others  most  closely  connected  with  the 
old  college  town.  He  seemed,  indeed,  almost  the  incar- 
nation of  the  old  Harvard  spirit  and  traditions. 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  STUDY.  —  Read  all  the  lyrics  whose  titles 
have  been  given  above.  Make  a  list  of  the  different  occasions  at 
which  Holmes  served  as  poet.  How  many  poems  are  in  any  way 
connected  with  Harvard?  How  many  of  his  poems  remind  you  of 
his  profession  ?  Have  the  occasional  poems  lost  the  sparkle  and 
wit  with  the  occasion  that  called  them  forth?  How  many  of  the 
poems  are  "  metrical  essays "  written  in  the  measure  of  Pope  ? 
What  is  the  difference  between  wit  and  humor  ?  (See  dictionary.) 
How  do  you  account  for  the  playful  touches  in  "  The  Last  Leaf  "  ? 
Was  Holmes  a  true  humorist  like  Hood  and  Lamb?  How  many 
of  the  poems  are  not  humorous  at  all  ?  Judging  from  his  poems, 
what  was  Holmes'  attitude  toward  slavery?  Is  anything  said 
about  the  negro  in  any  of  his  poems?  What  was  his  attitude 
toward  disunion?  What  melancholy  interest  attaches  to  the  last 
stanza  of  "The  Last  Leaf"? 

<c  The  New  Portfolio."  —  "  At  thirty,"  wrote  the  Auto- 
crat, "  we  are  all  trying  to  cut  our  names  in  big  letters 
upon  this  tenement  of  life.  Twenty  years  later  we 
have  carved  it  or  shut  up  our  jack-knives."  If  Holmes 
was  busy  carving  during  this  period  of  his  life,  it  must 
have  been  on  the  walls  of  the  Harvard  Medical  School ; 
for  it  was  not  until  he  had  reached  his  forty-ninth  year 
that  he  commenced  the  literary  work  that  has  made 
his  name  immortal.  When  the  Atlantic  Monthly  was 


282  AMERICAN-  LITERATURE. 

founded  in  1857,  Lowell  took  its  editorial  chair  only  on 
condition  that  Holmes  should  contribute  a  series  of 
articles  to  the  first  volume.  The  result  was  The  Auto- 
crat of  the  Breakfast  Table,  one  of  the  most  original  and 
striking  contributions  ever  made  to  American  literature, 
and  from  that  time  Holmes,  the  genial  autocrat  and 
prose  writer,  became  even  better  known  than  Holmes, 
the  poet. 

His  prose  work  falls  naturally  under  four  heads :  The 
Autocrat  series,  novels,  biographies,  and  medical  es- 
says. 

1.  The  Autocrat  Series  consists  of  four  books:  The 
Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table  (1858),  The  Professor 
at  the  Breakfast  Table  (1859),  The  Poet  at  the  Breakfast 
Table  (1873),  and  Over  the  Teacups  (1890).  The  plan 
of  the  series  is  a  very  simple  one.  Given  a  somewhat 
idealized  boarding-house  table  with  the  variety  of  char- 
acters not  unnaturally  found  about  it ;  let  Dr.  Holmes 
take  the  lead  and  report  the  discussions,  the  gossipings, 
the  sallies  of  wit,  and  the  plan  is  complete.  The  chap- 
ters and  books  ripple  on  and  on  without  restraint  or 
definite  aim ;  now  broad  and  serene,  reflecting  the  sky 
and  the  stars  ;  now  deep  and  dark,  hiding  untold  things ; 
now  loitering  through  summer  meadows  or  sparkling 
and  dancing  and  babbling  over  the  smooth  shingle. 
Never  were  there  books  more  delightful,  with  their 
exquisite  thread  of  love  story,  their  sparkling  jokes  and 
puns,  their  shrewd  characterizations,  their  proverbs, 
their  worldly  wisdom,  their  sage  observations  on  life 
and  its  problems.  One  lays  down  the  book  wondering 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS.  283 

at  the  inexhaustible  fountain  that  could  have  sent  forth 
all  this  sparkling  delight.  "In  these  books,"  says  the 
author,  "  I  have  unburdened  myself  of  what  I  was  born 
to  say." 

The  first  book  of  the  series  is  the  best  of  all.  Holmes 
compared  it  to  the  first  wine  of  grapes  that  runs  off 
itself.  "  The  first  of  my  series,"  he  said  in  Over  the  Tea- 
cups, "came  from  my  mind  almost  with  an  explosion, 
like  the  champagne  cork ;  it  startled  me  a  little  to  see 
what  I  had  written,  arid  to  hear  what  people  said  about 
it.  After  that  first  explosion  the  flow  was  more  sober, 
and  I  looked  upon  the  product  of  my  wine-press  more 
coolly."  The  Poet  at  the  Breakfast  Table,  which  was 
written  when  Holmes  was  sixty-four  years  of  age,  is  of 
a  more  serious  cast  than  the  others,  dealing  largely  with 
the  poet's  outlook  upon  social,  literary,  and  intellectual 
problems.  Over  the  Teacups  was  written  in  the  white 
winter  of  the  poet's  eightieth  year.  Its  atmosphere  is 
inevitably  reminiscent  and  its  author  took  no  pains  to 
hide  his  own  personality.  In  many  respects  it  is  the 
most  charming  book  of  the  series ;  in  none  of  the  others 
does  one  get  nearer  to  the  genial,  lovable  poet  whom 
time  seemed  powerless  to  impair. 

SUGGESTIONS  FOB  STUDY. — Read  carefully  The  Autocrat  and 
Over  the  Teacups.  Name  some  of  Holmes'  best  poems  that  first 
appeared  in  the  Autocrat  series.  Compare  the  essay  on  old  age  in 
The  Autocrat  with  that  in  Over  the  Teacups,  one  written  at  forty- 
eight,  the  other  at  eighty.  Is  there  any  difference  in  the  point  of 
view?  Make  a  list  of  some  of  the  brightest  proverbs  and  epi- 
grams. What  seems  to  you  his  brightest  joke?  Stedman  says 
"he  coins  here  and  there  a  phrase  destined  to  be  long  current," — • 


284  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

can  you  find  any  of  these  phrases?  Find  evidence  of  Holmes' 
love  of  trees.  Does  his  treatment  of  young  poets  in  Over  the  Tea- 
cups seem  to  you  unjust?  Compare  with  the  characterization  of 
Gifted  Hopkins  in  The  Guardian  Angel.  Can  you  find  anything 
in  The  Autocrat  that  you  had  thought  of  yourself  but  could  not 
express?  Which  one  of  Holmes'  characters  seems  to  you  the  best 
drawn?  Are  there  any  characters  in  Over  the  Teacups  that  had 
previously  appeared  in  The  Autocrat?  Head  over  the  general 
index,  Vol.  X.,  and  note  how  various  and  many  were  the  subjects 
treated. 

2.  As  a  Novelist  Holmes  deserves  more  than  passing 
notice.  His  three  novels,  Elsie  Venner  (1860),  The 
Guardian  Angel  (1868),  and  A  Mortal  Antipathy 
(1885),  are  all  studies  of  that  "mysterious  border- 
land which  lies  between  physiology  and  psychology." 
Holmes'  essay,  "Crime  and  Automatism,"  might  well 
be  taken  as  an  introduction  to  the  series.  They  are  all 
studies  of  various  phases  of  the  problem  of  heredity. 
Elsie  Venner,  whose  aim,  as  its  author  has  written,  "  was 
to  illustrate  this  same  innocently  criminal  automatism 
with  the  irresponsibility  it  implies,  by  the  supposed 
mechanical  introduction  before  birth  of  an  ophidian  ele- 
ment into  the  blood  of  a  human  being,"  is  the  strongest 
of  the  three  novels.  It  has  passages  which  in  weird 
power  remind  one  of  Hawthorne.  The  Guardian  Angel^ 
a  story  of  inherited  Indian  blood,  contains  the  best 
of  Holmes'  broadly  humorous  characterization.  But 
although  charming  in  style,  like  everything  that  bears 
their  author's  name,  and  containing  here  and  there  pas- 
sages of  wonderful  strength  and  beauty,  these  novels 
are  not  of  the  highest  rank.  While  skilful  in  portray- 
ing character  and  abundantly  able  to  introduce  humor 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS.  285 

And  epigram,  Holmes  was  deficient  in  constructive  abil- 
ity. Had  he  possessed  the  art  and  the  dramatic  power 
of  a  Hawthorne,  he  might  have  become  the  great  novel- 
ist of  the  century. 

3.  His  Biographies.  —  In  his  last  years  Holmes  com- 
pleted two  memorable  biographies  :  his  Memoirs  of  John 
Lothrop    Motley   (1879),  and    Ralph    Waldo   Emerson 
(1884).     Both  were  written  after  a  lifelong  friendship, 
and  both  contain    most  careful  and   loving  estimates. 
Says  Stedman:  "  He  has  few  superiors  in  discernment  of 
a  man's  individuality,  however  distinct  that  individuality 
may  be  from  his  own.     Emerson,  for  example,  was  a 
thinker  and  a  poet,  whose  chartered  disciples  scarcely 
would  have  selected  Holmes  as  likely  to  proffer  a  sym- 
pathetic or  even  objective  transcript  of  him.     Yet  when 
the  time  came,  Holmes  was  equal  to  the  effort.     He 
presented   with   singular   clearness,  and   with   an   epi- 
grammatic genius  at  white  heat,  if  not  the  esoteric  view 
of  the  Concord  Plotinus,  at  least  what  would  enable  an 
audience  to  get  at  the  mould  of  that  serene  teacher  and 
make  some  fortunate  surmise  of  the  spirit  that  ennobled 
it.     I  do  not  recall  a  more  faithful  and  graphic  outside 
portrait." 

4.  Medical  Essays.  —  But  after  all  Holmes  was  first 
of  all  a  physician.     He  gave  to  his  profession  his  best 
hours  and  his  best  years.     It  was  not  until  the  last  of 
his  life  that  he  was  at  all  sure  whether  he  was  to  be 
remembered  as  a  scientist  or  as  a  man  of  letters.     Said 
President  Eliot  at  the  Holmes  breakfast  in  1879:    "I 
know  him  as  the  professor  of  anatomy  and  physiology 


286  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

in  the  medical  school  of  Harvard  University  for  the  last 
thirty-two  years,  and  I  know  him  to-day  as  one  of  the 
most  active  and  hardworking  of  our  lecturers.  .  .  . 
When  I  read  his  writing  I  find  traces  of  this  life-work 
of  his  on  every  page."  It  was  indeed  a  remarkable 
versatility  that  could  produce  poems  in  every  key, 
Autocrat  papers,  novels,  biographies,  and  papers  on 
"Currents  and  Counter-currents  in  Medical  Science," 
and  "  The  Contagiousness  of  Puerperal  Fever."  Holmes' 
medical  essays,  which  were  written  mostly  to  be  deliv- 
ered before  medical  associations  and  college  classes, 
are  fearless  and  original,  provoking  in  their  day  wide- 
spread discussion. 

Holmes*  Place  and  Influence.  —  (Stedman,  Ch,  VIII. ; 
Richardson,  I.,  372 ;  Whipple's  American  Literature ; 
Curtis'  Literary  and  Social  Essays;  Haweis'  American 
Humorists,  43.)  Few  authors  of  Holmes'  depth  have 
covered  so  wide  a  field  or  done  their  work  so  uniformly 
well.  He  was  not  a  great  thinker;  he  brought  no 
burning  message ;  he  seldom  struck  the  deep  strata  of 
life :  but  he  knew  the  world  surprisingly  well  and  he 
touched  its  life  at  a  thousand  different  points.  He 
skimmed  with  wonderful  grace  over  a  vast  amount  of 
surface,  but  he  seldom  dived  deep  below.  Like  Pope, 
he  could  recut  a  somewhat  commonplace  idea  until  it 
scintillated  at  every  point.  With  both  it  mattered  not 
so  much  what  ?  as  how  ? 

But  had  Holmes  nothing  to  commend  him  but  his  wit, 
he  would  soon  be  forgotten.  He  possessed  a  deep  vein 
of  pathos,  which,  mingled  with  his  wit,  produced  humor 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS.  287 

of  the  genuine  kind.  In  reading  his  books  one  may 
not  always  tell  whether  the  tears  that  sometimes  come 
are  from  sympathy  or  from  laughter.  It  is  as  a  humor- 
ist that  Holmes  will  be  longest  remembered.  "  The 
Last  Leaf,"  with  its  blended  wit  and  pathos,  will  be  the 
last  leaf  of  his  works  to  perish. 

Holmes'  hearty  laugh  and  his  keen  enjoyment  of  the 
sweets  of  life  have  played  their  part  in  moulding  the 
spirit  of  the  century.  "  Whittier  did  more  than 
Holmes,"  says  J.  W.  Chadwick,  "  to  soften  the  Puri- 
tan theology,  but  Holmes  did  vastly  more  than  Whittier 
to  soften  the  Puritan  temper  of  the  community.  .  .  . 
His  was  4an  undisguised  enjoyment  of  earthly  com- 
forts ' ;  a  happy  confidence  in  the  excellence  and  glory 
of  our  present  life ;  a  persuasion,  as  one  has  said,  that 
'  if  God  made  us  then  he  also  meant  us,'  and  he  held  to 
these  things  so  earnestly,  so  pleasantly,  so  cheerily,  that 
he  could  not  help  communicating  them  to  everything  he 
wrote.  They  pervade  his  books  and  poems  like  a  most 
subtle  essence,  and  his  readers  took  them  in  at  every 
breath.  Many  entered  into  his  labors,  and  some,  no 
doubt,  did  more  than  he  to  save  what  was  best  in  the 
Puritan  conscience  while  softening  what  was  worse  in 
the  Puritan  temper  and  what  was  most  terrible  in  the 
Puritan  theology.  It  does  not  appear  that  any  one  else 
did  so  much  as  Dr.  Holmes  to  change  the  social  temper 
of  New  England,  to  make  it  less  harsh  and  joyless,  and 
to  make  easy  for  his  fellow-countrymen  the  transition 
from  the  old  things  to  the  new." 


XXI. 

THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS  (3). 

JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL  (1819-1891). 

"No  man,  certainly  no  American,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  had  so  various  and  admirable  gifts  —  Poet,  Wit, 
Moralist,  Scholar,  Diplomat,  Gentleman."  —  T.  B.  Aldrich. 

"  Think,  as  is  his  due,  upon  the  high- water  marks  of  his  abundant 
tide,  and  see  how  enviable  the  record  of  a  poet  who  is  our  most  bril- 
liant and  learned  critic,  and  who  has  given  us  our  best  native  idyl,  our 
best  and  most  complete  work  in  dialectic  verse,  and  the  noblest  heroic 
ode  that  America  has  produced,  —  each  and  all  ranking  with  the  first 
of  their  kinds  in  English  literature  of  the  modern  time."  —  Stedman. 

Life.— (The  standard  life  of  Lowell  is  by  H.  E. 
Scudder,  1902.  Hale's  James  Russell  Lowell  and  His 
Friends  is  full  of  delightful  revelations.  F.  H.  Under- 
wood's Biographical  Sketch  contains  much  valuable 
criticism,  and  E.  E.  Brown's  Life  may  be  consulted  with 
profit.  Lowell's  Letters,  edited  in  two  volumes  by 
Charles  Eliot  Norton,  give  many  charming  glimpses  of 
the  poet's  personality  and  friendships.) 

A  glance  at  a  list  of  birth  years  of  great  men  seems  to 
confirm  the  saying  of  Schiller  that  the  immortals  never 
appear  alone.  The  year  of  1807  is  memorable  as  the 
birth  year  of  Longfellow,  Whittier,  Richard  Hildreth, 
and  C.  C.  Felton ;  1809  presents  at  the  head  of  its  list 
prladstone,  Lincoln,  Darwin,  Tennyson,  Mrs.  Browning, 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS.  289 

Holmes,  Poe,  and  Lord  Houghton  ;  and  1819  is  marked 
by  such  names  as  W.  W.  Story,  E.  P.  Whipple,  Herman 
Melville,  Julia  Ward  Howe,  J.  G.  Holland,  T.  W.  Par- 
sons, Walt  Whitman,  "  George  Eliot,"  Ruskin,  Charles 
Kingsley,  and  James  Russell  Lowell. 

Lowell  was  born  in  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  Feb. 
22,  in  the  old  mansion  "Elmwood,"  where  he  passed 
his  life.  The  house  is  still  standing,  a  delightful  struct- 
ure built  after  the  Colonial  pattern,  amid  spacious 
grounds  filled  with  ancient  English  elms,  bounded  on 
one  side  by  Mount  Auburn  Cemetery,  and  a  near  neigh- 
bor to  the  "  Old  Craigie  House,"  sacred  with  memories 
of  Washington  and  Longfellow.  Like  Holmes  and 
Longfellow,  Lowell  inherited  the  "  cumulative  humani- 
ties "  of  several  generations  of  sturdy,  intellectual  men. 
The  American  branch  of  the  family  originated  in  Perci- 
val  Lowell,  who  came  to  Massachusetts  in  early  Puritan 
times.  One  of  the  family  founded  the  busy  city  of 
Lowell ;  another  endowed  the  Lowell  Institute  in  Bos- 
ton; Dr.  Charles  Lowell,  the  poet's  father,  was  long 
the  pastor  of  the  West  Congregational  Church  of 
Boston.  Lowell  inherited  his  gift  of  poesy,  however, 
from  his  mother,  who  was  of  Scotch  descent  and  of  a 
highly  poetical  temperament,  and  who  possessed  an  inex- 
haustible store  of  the  old  Scottish  romances  of  the  border, 
which  "she  sung  over  the  cradles  of  her  children  and 
repeated  in  their  early  school  days  until  poetic  lore  and 
feeling  were  as  natural  to  them  as  the  bodily  senses." 
The  Cambridge  lad  had  everything  to  develop  the  poetic 
instinct  within  him:  books,  refined  society,  and  the 


290  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

classic  influences  of  the  old  college  town.  Nature,  too, 
appealed  to  him  strongly.  He  delighted  in  the  woods 
and  fields,  where  he  gathered  the  impressions  that  were 
in  time  to  shape  themselves  into  the  noblest  of  nature 
poems. 

Lowell  entered  Harvard  at  the  age  of  sixteen  and 
was  graduated  in  1838,  nine  years  after  the  class  immor- 
talized by  Holmes.  His  college  career  was  not  especially 
brilliant,  for  the  reason,  as  he  has  himself  confessed,  that 
he  studied  everything  but  his  text-books.  Like  so  many 
other  American  authors,  he  sought  the  law  immediately 
after  his  graduation,  and  in  1840  was  even  admitted  to 
the  bar,  but  to  his  great  delight  he  was  unsought  by 
clients.  One  year  later  the  fruits  of  his  legal  practice 
appeared  in  the  volume  of  poems  A  Year's  Life,  which, 
although  but  little  better  than  the  average  poet's  first 
book,  contained  here  and  there  rare  promises  of  better 
work  to  come.  In  1843  he  established,  in  connection 
with  Robert  Carter,  a  literary  magazine  called  The  Pio- 
neer, with  Hawthorne,  Poe,  and  Mrs.  Browning  as 
contributors,  but  it  died  after  the  third  number.  Dur- 
ing the  same  year  he  married  Miss  Maria  White, 
herself  a  poet  of  note  and  a  prominent  abolitionist, 
and  also  published  his  second  venture  in  the  poetical 
field. 

Three  Periods,  more  or  less  distinct,  may  be  recog- 
nized in  Lowell's  literary  life,  and  the  lines  of  cleavage 
were  much  the  same  as  those  in  Holmes'  literary  career. 
The  first  period,  which  opened  in  1844  with  the  publica- 
tion of  his  first  significant  book  of  poems,  and  which 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS.  291 

was  passed,  with  the  exception  of  two  trips  to  Europe, 
in  comparative  seclusion  at  "  Elmwood,"  may  be  called 
the  period  of  his  greatest  poetical  achievement,  since  it 
witnessed  the  production  of  his  most  distinctly  indi- 
vidual work,  The  Vision  of  Sir  Launfal  (1848),  the 
first  series  of  The  Biglow  Papers  (1848),  and  A  Fable 
for  Critics  (1848). 

The  second  period,  which  opened  in  1857  with  his 
assumption  of  the  chair  which  had  just  been  vacated  by 
Longfellow  at  Harvard,  and  the  editorship  of  the 
Atlantic  Monthly,  may  be  called  the  period  of  literary 
criticism.  Lowell  edited  the  first  nine  volumes  of  the 
Atlantic,  and  from  1863  until  1872  was  joint  editor  with 
Charles  Eliot  Norton  of  the  North  American  Review. 
His  magazine  articles  during  this  time,  which  make  up 
the  greater  part  of  his  critical  work,  have  been  published 
in  four  volumes  :  Fireside  Travels,  Among  my  Books, 
two  series,  and  My  Study  Windows.  His  editorial 
work,  however,  did  not  interfere  with  his  duties  at 
Harvard.  The  twenty  years  of  his  professorship  there 
may  be  taken  roughly  as  the  second  period  of  his 
literary  life. 

The  third  and  last  period  of  his  life  was  marked  by  his 
national  poems  and  addresses.  Few  men  have  been  more 
thoroughly  and  proudly  American  than  Lowell.  Both 
series  of  The  Biglow  Papers,  as  well  as  his  burning  anti- 
slavery  lyrics  during  the  war,  show  his  intense  patri- 
otism. His  noble  "Commemoration  Ode,"  delivered  at 
the  close  of  the  war,  his  three  odes  published  together 
in  1876,  and  his-  ringing  address  on  Democracy  mark 


292  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

him  as  one  of  the  truest  Americans  of  the  century. 
Lowell  was  a  born  reformer;  his  hate  of  tyrants  and 
demagogues  was  fierce  and  pitiless.  It  gave  color  to 
his  whole  life-work,  and  to  fix  an  absolute  date  as  the 
opening  of  this  last  period  would  be  absurd.  Yet  the 
year  1876,  which  witnessed  the  publication  of  his  Three 
Memorial  Poems,  and  which  was  followed  by  his  appoint- 
ment as  minister  to  Spain  and  later  to  the  Court  of 
St.  James  in  England,  may  be  taken  as  an  approximate 
date.  During  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life  Lowell 
stood  as  the  most  eminent  champion  of  true  Ameri- 
canism and  pure  Democratic  government. 

I.  As  a  Poet.  —  While  Lowell  is  undoubtedly  the 
greatest  literary  critic  that  America  has  thus  far  pro- 
duced, it  is  as  a  poet  that  he  has  done  his  most  perma- 
nent work.  The  best  of  his  poems  represent  without 
question  the  highest  and  most  sustained  flights  of  the 
American  Muse.  Emerson  alone  among  our  poets  is^to 
be  compared  with  him;  and  yet  while  Emerson  occa- 
sionally touched  the  heights,  it  was  but  to  fall  inglori- 
ously.  The  sustained  excellence  of  The  Vision  of  Sir 
Launfal  and  "The  Commemoration  Ode"  is  hard  indeed 
to  be  equalled  among  the  poets  of  the  Victorian  era. 
Lowell's  poetry  may  be  divided  into  four  classes  :  Poems 
of  Nature ;  Humorous  and  Dialectic  Poems ;  Poems  of 
Culture ;  and  National  Poems. 

1.  Poems  of  Nature.  —  Lowell  is  par  excellence  the 
poet  of  June  as  Bryant  is  of  autumn.  In  the  opening 
lines  of  Sir  Launfal  and  in  "  Under  the  Willows,"  the 
poet  has  poured  forth  his  joy  in  this  perfect  month.  How 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS.  293 

could  mere  words  express  more  of  rapturous  delight 
than  that  impassioned  burst  — 

"  Gladness  of  woods,  skies,  waters,  all  in  one, 
The  bobolink  has  come,  and,  like  the  soul 
Of  the  sweet  season  vocal  in  a  bird, 
Gurgles  in  ecstasy  we  know  not  what 
Save  June,  dear  June,  now  God  be  praised  for  June  1 " 

Lowell's  pictures  of  nature  are  always  true  and  always 
spontaneous.  Such  poems  as  "  To  the  Dandelion  "  and 
"  An  Indian  Summer  Reverie  "  came  not  only  from  an 
intimate  knowledge  of  nature's  secrets,  but  from  a  heart 
good  and  true. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "Under  the  Willows";  "An  Indian 
Summer  Reverie  " ;  "  To  the  Dandelion  " ;  "  The  First  Snow  Fall" ; 
"  Pictures  from  Appledore." 

2.  Humorous  and  Dialectic.  —  For  sparkling  wit  and 
rollicking  fun  Lowell  is  to  be  compared  only  with  Irving 
and  Holmes.  He  was  quick  to  see  the  comical  aspects 
of  his  surroundings;  he  had  an  attentive  ear  for  all 
peculiarities  of  pronunciation  and  diction ;  he  was  an 
irresistible  punster  and  when  "bound  to  rhyme,"  as  in 
A  Fable  for  Critics  and  "The  Unhappy  Lot  of  Mr. 
Knott,"  no  word  appalled  him,  — 

"  He  nerved  his  larynx  for  the  desperate  thing 
And  cleared  the  five-barred  syllables  at  a  spring." 

A  liable  for  Critics,  which  was  published  in  1848, 
was,  like  Irving's  Knickerbocker,  a  jeu  d' esprit  full  of 
the  broadest  fun,  under  much  of  which,  however,  lurked 
the  sting  of  satire.  Some  of  the  criticism,  as  that  of 
Foe,  Bryant,  Whittier,  Hawthorne,  Irving,  Holmes, 


294  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Carlyle,  and  Emerson,  is  excellently  done  and  in  every 
way  worthy  of  a  place  with  the  poet's  best  critical  work, 
but  the  poem  as  a  whole  is  marred  by  hastily  written 
lines,  inelegant,  even  coarse,  expressions,  and  a  general 
suspicion  of  flippancy. 

It  is  upon  The  Biglow  Papers,  the  first  series  of  which 
appeared  in  1848,  that  Lowell's  fame  as  a  humorist  chiefly 
depends.  The  story  of  this  series  is  best  given  in  the 
author's  own  words. 

"  Thinking  the  Mexican  War,  as  I  think  it  still,  a  national  crime 
committed  in  behoof  of  slavery,  our  common  sin,  and  wishing  to 
put  the  feeling  of  those  who  thought  as  I  did  in  a  way  that  would 
tell,  I  imagined  to  myself  such  an  up-country  man  as  I  had  often 
seen  at  antislavery  gatherings,  capable  of  district-school  English, 
but  always  instinctively  falling  back  into  the  natural  stronghold  of 
his  homely  dialect  when  heated  to  the  point  of  self-forgetfulness. 
When  I  begun  to  carry  out  my  conception  and  to  write  in  my 
assumed  character,  I  found  myself  in  a  strait  between  two  perils. 
On  the  one  hand  I  was  in  danger  of  being  carried  beyond  the 
limit  of  my  own  opinions,  or  at  least  of  that  temper  with  which 
every  man  should  speak  his  mind  in  print,  and  on  the  other  I 
feared  the  risk  of  seeming  to  vulgarize  a  deep  and  sacred  convic- 
tion. I  needed  on  occasion  to  rise  above  mere  patois,  and  for  this 
purpose  conceived  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wilbur,  who  should  express  the 
more  cautious  element  of  the  New  England  character  and  its 
pedantry,  as  Mr.  Biglow  should  serve  for  its  homely  common  sense 
vivified  and  heated  by  conscience.  The  parson  was  to  be  the  com- 
plement rather  than  the  antithesis  of  his  parishioner,  and  I  felt  or  fan- 
cied a  certain  humorous  element  in  the  real  identity  of  the  two  under 
a  seeming  incongruity.  Mr.  Wilbur's  fondness  for  scraps  of  Latin, 
though  drawn  from  the  life,  I  adopted  deliberately  to  heighten  the 
contrast.  Finding  soon  after  that  I  needed  some  one  as  a  mouth- 
piece of  the  mere  drollery,  for  I  conceive  that  true  humor  is  never 
divorced  from  moral  conviction,  I  invented  Mr.  Sawin  for  the 
clown  of  my  puppet-s^QW,  Tfce  SUQQess  of  my  experiment  goon 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS.  296 

began  not  only  to  astonish  me,  but  to  make  me  feel  the  responsi- 
bility of  knowing  that  I  held  in  my  hand  a  weapon  instead  of  the 
mere  fencing  stick  I  had  supposed."  —  Introduction  to  Second  Series. 

Under  all  of  Lowell's  culture  and  learning  there 
lurked  the  droll,  cute  Yankee,  —  practical,  opinionated, 
and  withal  intensely  free.  Of  all  his  works  The  Biglow 
Papers  is  the  most  original  and  individual;  nowhere 
else  do  we  get  so  near  the  poet.  He  was  himself  the 
original  of  Hosea  Biglow.  The  crudeness  and  the  quaint 
dialect  alone  were  feigned.  Every  line  of  the  poem  came 
burning  from  his  heart.  One  must  laugh,  and  laugh 
immoderately  sometimes,  at  the  homely  comparisons, 
the  ingenious  rhymes,  the  irresistible  drollery  of  the 
dialect,  and  the  curious  conceits,  but  even  the  most 
careless  cannot  fail  to  recognize  under  the  thin  veil  of 
fun  a  terrible  earnestness. 

The  second  series  of  The  Biglow  Papers,  which  ap- 
peared during  the  Civil  War,  and  which  voiced  the 
poet's  indignation  at  slavery  and  secession,  while 
lacking  the  freshness  and  vigor  of  the  earlier  poems, 
accomplished,  nevertheless,  untold  good  for  the  Union 
cause.  The  two  series  together  make  up  a  work  which 
may  be  added  to  the  very  small  list  of  books  distinc- 
tively American.  Hosea  Biglow  and  Parson  Wilbur 
are  numbered  with  the  few  great  original  creations  with 
which  America  has  enriched  the  literature  of  the  world. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  The  Biglow  Papers,  first  series ;  "  The 
Courtin'." 

3.  Poems  of  Culture.  —  The  contrast  between  The 
Biglow  Papers  and  the  class  of  poems  represented  by 


296  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

The  Vision  of  Sir  Launfal  is  very  great.  Few  poets  in 
the  history  of  literature  have  produced  works  so  anti- 
thetical in  every  respect.  The  Biglow  Papers,  with 
their  utter  disregard  for  polish  and  literary  art,  with 
their  burning  satire,  their  intense  convictions,  and  their 
irresistible  humor,  reveal  Lowell  in  his  native  dress. 
We  see  in  these  poems  the  true  Lowell,  pouring  his 
message  from  his  heart  without  a  thought  of  effect  or  of 
art,  as  did  Burns  and  Whittier.  In  The  Vision  of  Sir 
Launfal  we  lose  sight  of  the  poet,  but  we  see  in  every 
line  a  refinement  of  touch  that  could  have  been  gained 
only  by  careful  study  and  by  long  contact  with  the 
rarest  in  art.  Sir  Launfal,  in  its  exquisite  workmanship, 
in  its  sentiment,  its  lofty  conception,  its  descriptions,  is 
without  question  "the  high-water  mark  of  American 
poetry."  Among  the  best  of  Lowell's  other  poems  of 
culture  may  be  named  "  The  Legend  of  Brittany,"  which 
in  its  sweet  simplicity  reminds  one  of  Chaucer ;  "  Rhoe- 
cus,"  which  is  almost  Grecian  in  its  perfect  art ;  "  A 
Glance  behind  the  Curtain,"  "  Columbus,"  and  "  The 
Cathedral." 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  A  STUDY  OF  SIR  LAUNFAL.  —  To  what 
well-known  English  poem  do  11.  9  and  10  allude?  Compare  the 
description  of  June  here  with  that  in  "  Under  the  Willows  "  and 
"An  Indian  Summer  Reverie."  Point  out  the  few  strokes  by 
which  the  poet's  picture  of  summer  is  sketched  in  11.  109-118. 
Point  out  and  explain  the  descriptive  epithets  in  the  prelude  to 
Part  Second,  e.g.  "  steel-stemmed  trees "  and  "  silvery  moss." 
Notice  the  wonderful  strength  and  beauty  of  the  picture  of  Christ- 
mas Eve  in  11.  221-224.  Which  seems  to  you  most  beautiful, 
Lowell's  picture  of  June  or  of  December?  Explain  the  poetic 
touches  in  11.  216,  218,  219,  242,  245,  264.  What  was  the  legend 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS.  297 

of  the  Holy  Grail?  Compare  Lowell's  treatment  of  the  legend 
with  Tennyson's  "  The  Holy  Grail."  Explain  the  mediaeval  words 
in  11.  97,  128,  133,  233.  What  significance  in  Sir  Launfal's  setting 
out  on  his  quest  in  June  and  returning  in  December  ?  How  can 
the  poem  be  taken  as  a  type  of  human  life  ?  What  is  the  lesson 
of  the  poem?  Does  Stedman's  remark  that  it  is  "really  a  land- 
scape poem "  seem  to  you  just  ?  Commit  to  memory  the  finest 
passages  of  the  poem. 

4.  National  Poems.  —  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  the 
larger  part  of  Lowell's  collected  poems  is  taken  up  by 
the  antislavery  lyrics,  The  Biglow  Papers,  and  the  four 
memorial  addresses,  all  of  them  poems  of  a  national 
and  patriotic  character.  Freedom  was  the  keynote  of 
Lowell's  political  creed ;  it  rings  from  all  of  his  national 
poems :  it  inspired  the  fierce  sarcasm  of  The  Biglow 
Papers;  it  rung  in  the  noble  ode  that  commemorated 
Harvard's  heroic  dead  at  the  close  of  the  war ;  from  the 
Concord  Ode,  which  is  a  rhapsody  to  freedom;  from 
the  Centennial  Ode,  and  from  the  heroic  verses  of 
Under  the  Old  Elm.  In  these  odes  Lowell's  Muse 
reached  her  sublimest  heights.  The  fifty-nine  lines 
of  The  Commemoration  Ode,  commencing  "And  such 
was  he,  our  Martyr  Chief,"  and  ending  with  the  grand 
climax : 

"  Great  captains,  with  their  guns  and  drums, 
Disturb  our  judgment  for  the  hour, 
But  at  last  silence  comes ; 
These  all  are  gone  and,  standing  like  a  tower, 
Our  children  shall  behold  his  fame, 
The  kindly-earnest,  brave,  foreseeing  man, 
Sagacious,  patient,  dreading  praise,  not  blame, 
New  birth  of  our  new  soil,  the  first  American ;  n 


298  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

and  the  forty  lines  of  Under  the  Old  Elm,  commencing 
"  Virginia  gave  us  this  imperial  man,"  should  be  learned 
by  heart  by  every  American. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Lowell's  four  Memorial  Odes. 

II.  As  a  Prose  Writer.  —  Lowell's  prose  work  is  al- 
most wholly  in  the  form  of  essays,  which  may  be  divided 
into  three  classes :  Essays  in  Literary  Criticism,  Sketches, 
,  and  Political  Essays. 

1.  The  Essays  in  Criticism,  which  represent  the  care- 
ful study  of  a  lifetime,  are  a  real  contribution  to  the 
critical  literature  of  the  world.  The  greater  number  of 
these  are  studies  of  old  English  poets  and  prose  writers 
.  from  Chaucer  to  Keats  and  Landor ;  from  Izaak  Walton 
'  to  Carlyle.  There  are  papers,  too,  on  continental  lit- 
erature,—  scholarly  studies  of  Dante,  Rousseau,  and 
Lessing ;  nor  are  his  own  countrymen  neglected,  as 
the  vigorous  portraits  of  Josiah  Quincy,  Thoreau,  and 
Lincoln  testify.  From  every  page  of  these  essays  shine 
forth  evidences  of  rare  scholarship,  a  wide  and  varied 
acquaintance  with  literature,  a  refined  taste,  a  sound 
judgment,  and  a  delicate  humor.  To  one  who  can  read 
them,  they  are  delightful.  They  were  not  designed  to 
be  popular  in  the  broad  sense,  —  only  the  few  can  enjoy 
them.  They  imply  in  the  reader  a  wide  range  of  study 
and  reading  and  a  taste  for  the  best  in  literature. 
Lowell's  style  is  suggestive  rather  than  direct.  The 
reader  must  often  use  his  imagination  or  lose  the  most 
subtle  part  of  the  author's  thought.  The  figures,  too, 
and  the  allusions  take  for  granted  on  the  reader's  part  a 
broad  acquaintance  with  mythology,  history,  and  general 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS.  299 

literature.  To  the  uneducated  Lowell's  critical  essays 
must  ever  remain  a  closed  book,  but  to  those  who  can 
judge  of  them  they  are  without  question  one  of  the 
rarest  creations  of  the  century  in  their  field. 

2.  Lowell's  Sketches,  however,  can  be  read  with  pleas- 
ure by  the  multitude.     In  such  papers  as  "  My  Garden 
Acquaintance,"  "  A  Good  Word  for  Winter,"  "  A  Moose- 
head   Journal,"  and    "  At    Sea,"    we  come  once    more 
into  the  presence  of  the  author  himself,  as  we  did  in  The 
Biglow  Papers.     Here  again  is  the  real  Lowell,  full  of 
sparkling  humor  and  of  comradeship ;    wise,  observant, 
and  very  close  to  nature.     No  better  companion  can  be 
imagined    for    a   garden  walk,   a    scramble    over    the 
"  Northwest  Carry  " ;  for  a  journey  across  the  sea  and 
into  distant  lands. 

3.  Of  Lowell's   Political    Essays   "Democracy,"   an 
address  delivered  at  Birmingham,  England,  in  1884,  a 
masterly  summary  of  its  author's  political  beliefs,  may 
be  taken  as  the  best  representative. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  The  essays  on  Chaucer,  Keats,  and 
Izaak  Walton;  "My  Garden  Acquaintance,"  "A  Moosehead 
Journal,"  and  "  Democracy."  Compare  Lowell's  "  At  Sea  "  with 
Irving's  "  The  Voyage." 

Lowell's  Place  and  Influence.  —  (Stedman,  IX. ;  Rich- 
ardson, I.,  416 ;  Haweis'  American  Humorists,  81 ; 
"Lowell  as  a  Prose  Writer,"  Whipple's  Outlooks  on 
Society ;  Curtis'  Literary  and  Social  Essays;  Dow- 
den's  Studies  in  Literature,  472.)  In  viewing  Lowell's 
work  as  a  whole,  one  is  surprised  first  of  all  at  the  ver- 
satility of  the  man.  He  was  as  varied  in  his  literary  ac- 


300  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

complisliinents  as  was  Holmes.      Says  his  biographer, 
Underwood : 

"What  adjective  will  convey  the  many-sidedness  of  Lowell? 
When  we  read  the  tender  story  of  '  The  First  Snowfall,'  the  wise 
lessons  of  ' Ambrose/  the  prophetic  strains  of  'The  Present 
Crisis'  and  of  'Villa  Franca,'  the  wit  and  shrewdness  of  Hosea 
Biglow,  the  delicious  humor  of  the  garrulous  Parson,  the  delicate 
beauty  of  '  Sir  Launfal,'  the  grandeur  of  the  « Commemoration 
Ode,'  the  solemn  splendor  of  'The  Cathedral,'  what  can  we  do 
but  wonder  at  the  imaginative  power  that  takes  on  these  various 
shapes,  and  moves  in  such  diverse  ways  to  touch  our  souls  in  every 
part  ?  When,  in  addition,  we  consider  his  vigorous,  learned,  and 
glowing  prose  essays,  full  of  color  like  fresh  studies  from  the  fields, 
full  of  wit  that  not  only  sparkles  in  epigram  but  pervades  and 
lightens  the  whole,  and  full  of  an  elastic  spirit  such  as  belongs  to 
immortal  youth,  we  find  enough  to  give  him  enduring  fame  if  he 
had  never  written  a  line  of  verse." 

Lowell  was  first  of  all  a  poet.  His  literary  criticism 
exquisite  as  it  is,  is  inferior  to  his  best  poetical  efforts. 
His  best  poems  are  his  nature  lyrics  and  his  Biglow 
Papers.  Few  poets  have  caught  so  well  the  true  poetry 
of  nature,  —  the  joy  of  June,  the  tipsy  rapture  of  the 
bobolink,  the  song  of  the  bluebird,  and  the  icy  breath  of 
winter.  In  The  Biglow  Papers  we  have  the  very  heart 
and  soul  of  New  England  rural  life.  "  No  richer  juice 
can  be  pressed  from  the  wild  grape  of  the  Yankee 
soil."  These  poems  will  tolerate  no  imitation;  the 
Yankee  dialect  as  a  literary  property  was  discovered  by 
Lowell,  and  its  discoverer  spoke  the  last  word  con- 
cerning it.  The  Biglow  Papers  are  without  question 
Lowell's  most  original  and  most  permanent  contribu- 
tion to  American  literature. 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS.  301 

Of  Lowell's  service  in  strengthening  and  broadening 
our  literature  in  the  critical  period  of  its  development, 
too  much  cannot  be  said.  As  editor  during  an  important 
epoch  of  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  the  mouthpiece  of  the 
most  remarkable  group  of  authors  that  our  nation  has 
produced,  and  later  as  editor  of  the  North  American 
Review,  he  had  a  chance  which  is  presented  to  few  liter- 
ary men.  His  impress  on  the  literary  product  of  the 
period  is  everywhere  visible.  There  are  but  few  of 
the  younger  school  of  writers  who  did  not  receive  their 
first  impetus  from  a  kind  word  of  criticism  or  encourage- 
ment from  this  zealous  builder  of  American  literature. 
Lowell's  influence  has  extended  beyond  his  own  land. 
He,  more  than  any  one  else  of  the  century,  has  made 
American  letters  and  culture  respected  abroad.  No 
one  has  done  more  than  he  to  lessen  the  gulf  between 
England  and  America. 

Two  Minor  Poets,  both  born  the  same  year  as  Lowell, 
belong  inseparably  with  the  Cambridge  group. 

THOMAS  WILLIAM  P ARSONS  (1819-1892),  a  native  of 
Boston  and  educated  in  the  Latin  School  of  that  city, 
went  to  Italy  in  1836  to  devote  himself  to  the  study  of 
Italian  literature,  and  in  1843  published  the  first  part  of 
his  masterly  translation  of  Dante's  Inferno.  Parsons 
was  one  of  the  little  Cambridge  circle  that,  with  Long- 
fellow and  Lowell,  devoted  itself  for  years  to  the  study  of 
Dante.  As  a  poet  he  produced  but  little.  He  occupies  in 
American  literature  a  place  somewhat  analogous  to  that 
held 'in  English  literature  by  Gray  and  Collins,  having 
written  only  a  few  poems,  but  those  of  surpassing  excel- 


302  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

lence.  Few  lyrics  in  our  literature  surpass  in  strength 
and  grandeur  his  lines  "  On  the  Bust  of  Dante,"  begin- 
ning 

"  See  from  this  counterfeit  of  him, 

Whom  Arno  shall  remember  long, 
How  stern  of  lineament,  how  grim 
The  father  was  of  Tuscan  song." 

WILLIAM  WETMORE  STOKY,  (1819-1895),  son  and 
biographer  of  the  celebrated  jurist,  Joseph  Story,  and  a 
member  of  Lowell's  class  at  Harvard,  after  a  short  career 
as  a  lawyer,  went  to  Rome  in  1848  to  study  painting  and 
sculpture.  He  soon  gained  wide-spread  fame  as  a  sculp- 
tor of  ideal  figures,  his  statues  of  Saul,  Delilah,  and 
Cleopatra  in  particular  winning  for  him  a  high  place 
among  the  artists  of  the  century.  He  also  became 
widely  known  as  a  poet.  Among  his  published  works 
in  prose  and  verse  may  be  mentioned  Rola  di  Roma  ;  or 
Walks  and  Talks  about  Rome  (1862),  Tragedy  of  Nero 
(1875),  Oastle  St.  Angelo  (1877),  He  and  She;  or  a 
Poet's  Portfolio  (1883).  Many  of  Story's  lyrics,  like 
"In  the  Moonlight,"  "Love  and  Death,"  "In  the  Gar- 
den," and  "  In  the  Rain,"  are  sweet  and  melodious ;  his 
dramatic  studies,  like  "A  Roman  Lawyer  in  Jerusalem" 
and  "  Cleopatra,"  are  often  exceedingly  strong  and  pas- 
sionate, but  his  poems,  while  delicate  and  scholarly, 
form  no  symmetrical  whole ;  they  have  no  insistent  and 
dominating  note  of  individuality ;  they  are  un-American 
in  theme  and  treatment,  and  they  can  never  give  Jheir 
author  a  secure  place  among  American  poets. 


XXII. 
THE  HISTORIANS. 

THE  second  creative  period  of  American  literature, 
which  opened  with  the  same  date  as  the  Victorian  era 
in  England,  witnessed  in  both  countries,  and  indeed 
throughout  Europe,  the  unprecedented  development  of 
two  departments  of  literature, — J>rose  fiction  and  his- 
torical narrative,  these  two  becoming,  during  the  last 
half  of  the  century,  the  dominating  forms  of  literary 
expression.  The  late  rise  and  the  remarkable  growth 
of  the  novel  has  been  already  dwelt  upon ;  it  remains 
to  outline  the  equally  remarkable  development  in  the 
methods  of  historical  composition. 

The  historian  of  the  old  school  relied  largely  upon 
hearsay;  he  accepted  doubtful  traditions,  and,  in  the 
absence  of  evidence,  sometimes  accepted  vague  rumors 
or  untrustworthy  authorities.  His  books  were  dry 
chronicles  of  kings  and  battles,  enlivened  now  and  then 
by  romantic  though  doubtful  episodes.  The  modern 
historian,  however,  seeking  first  of  all  to  arrive  at  the 
exact  truth,  spares  no  pains  to  consult  every  available 
source  of  authentic  information.  He  searches  the  dry 
columns  of  contemporary  newspapers ;  he  unearths  and 
deciphers  old  letters,  memoirs,  private  papers,  and  manu- 
scripts, 3-nd  be  sifts  with  tireless  patience  the  i 

303 


304  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

ble  public  documents  which  have  been  recently  opened 
to  scholars.  Motley,  while  writing  his  first  history, 
toiled  for  ten  years  through  the  dusty  archives  of  Spain 
and  Holland,  sometimes  for  months  at  a  time  speaking 
to  no  one  save  his  family  and  the  librarians.  Parkman 
visited  the  scene  of  nearly  every  battle  described  in  his 
histories,  and  he  could  at  a  moment's  notice  verify  every 
date  and  statement  by  copies  of  original  documents, 
which  he  kept  carefully  filed  away. 

The  modern  historian,  aside  from  patience  and  ability 
"  to  toil  terribly,"  must  possess  a  rare  combination  of 
powers.  He  must  have  sound  judgment  and  an  ac- 
curate sense  of  proportion  to  select  and  reject  among 
ponderous  masses  of  material,  and  to  arrange  all  with 
due  subordination  of  parts,  and  with  a  true  perspective ; 
he  must  possess  imagination,  that  he  may  project  him- 
self into  the  past  and  actually  live  amid  the  scenes 
which  he  describes ;  he  must  have  critical  insight,  that 
he  may  trace  causes  and  results  and  pronounce  accurate 
judgments  upon  men  and  events ;  and  he  must  be  master 
of  a  well-rounded  prose  style  that  he  may  be  able  to  make 
the  dry  facts  of  his  narrative  as  absorbingly  interesting 
as  fiction.  He  does  not  record  alone  the  stories  of  wars 
and  of  state  councils,  but  he  traces  as  well  what  Macau- 
lay  terms  "noiseless  revolutions,"  the  silent  growth 
among  the  scenes  of  quiet  life  of  new  ideas  and  new 
conditions  to  influence  the  spirit  of  the  age.  Macaulay 
has  defined  the  true  history  as  "the  spirit  of  an  age 
exhibited  in  miniature." 

SUGGESTED  HEADING.  —  Macaulay's  "  Essay  on  History.'* 


THE  HISTORIANS.  305 

Since  the  opening  of  the  new  era  in  historical  com- 
position no  nation  has  produced  a  more  brilliant  school 
of  historians  than  our  own.  The  father  of  American 
history  of  the  modern  type  was  JARED  SPARKS  (1789- 
1866),  of  Harvard  College,  who  collected  with  great 
skill  and  patience  the  writings  of  Washington  and 
Franklin,  edited  The  Diplomatic  Correspondence  of  the 
American  Revolution  and  The  Library  of  American 
Biography,  and  wrote  The  Life  of  G-ouverneur  Morris. 
[Memoir  of  Jared  Sparks,  by  George  E.  Ellis  ;  Richard- 
son, I.,  454-459.]  With  the  exception  of  Motley  and  of 
GEORGE  TICKNOR  (1797-1871),  who  published  in  1849 
the  History  of  Spanish  Literature,  a  work  of  the  very 
highest  rank,  American  historians  have  devoted  them- 
selves to  the  study  of  American  themes.  Prescott 
wrote  of  the  Spanish  conquests  in  Peru  and  Mexico; 
Bancroft  covered  the  history  of  the  United  States 
previous  to  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution ;  RICHARD 
HILDRETH  (1807-1865)  wrote  a  valuable  work  covering 
the  same  field  and  extending  it  to  1820  [Richardson,  I., 
471-473] ;  JOHN  G.  PALFREY  (1796-1881)  wrote  the 
standard  History  of  New  England  ;  Parkman,  in  a  series 
of  books  that  will  never  be  supplanted,  traced  the 
history  of  France  and  England  in  North  America. 
Later  historians,  like  H.  H.  Bancroft,  Justin  Winsor, 
John  Fiske,  James  Schouler,  J.  B.  McMaster,  and 
others,  have  made  valuable  additions  to  our  knowl- 
edge of  early  American  history  or  have  brought 
down  the  history  of  the  United  States  nearer  to  the 
present  day.  Of  the  early  American  historians  fom 


306  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

names  stand  pre-eminent :  Prescott,  Bancroft,  Motley, 
and  Parkman. 

SUGGESTED  EXERCISE.  —  On  an  outline  map  of  America  write 
on  each  section  the  name  of  its  historian. 

1.   WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT  (1796-1859). 

Life  (by  George  Ticknor).  Like  most  of  the  great 
creators  of  our  literature,  Prescott  inherited  not  only  a 
name  that  was  already  famous  in  American  annals,  but 
the  "  cumulative  humanities  "  of  a  long  line  of  men  of 
force  and  scholarship.  His  grandfather,  to  go  back  n<j 
farther,  was  one  of  the  heroic  defenders  of  Bunker 
Hill,  and  his  father  was  a  lawyer  of  such  commanding 
power  that  at  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  considered, 
by  so  eminent  an  authority  as  Webster,  to  s£and  "  at 
the  head  of  the  bar  of  Massachusetts  for  legal  learning 
and  attainments."  Prescott  was  born  May  4,  1796,  in 
the  city  that  eight  years  later  was  to  give  to  the  world 
Nathaniel  Hawthorne.  In  1808  he  removed  with  his 
parents  to  Boston  and  three  years  later  was  admitted  to 
the  sophomore  class  of  Harvard  College.  It  was  while 
he  was  a  junior  in  that  institution  that  an  accident  oc- 
curred which  rendered  him  nearly  blind  throughout  the 
rest  of  his  life.  A  crust  of  bread  thrown  during  a 
moment  of  boisterous  merriment  at  a  dinner  struck  him 
in  the  open  eye  with  such  force  as  to  produce  concus- 
sion of  the  brain.  For  weeks  he  was  threatened  with 
total  blindness,  but  at  length,  recovering  a  partial  use 
of  his  sight,  he  returned  to  Harvard,  where  he  succeeded 
in  completing  his  course  with  credit. 


THE  HISTORIANS.  307 

Prescott  had  intended  to  follow  his  father's  profession, 
but  his  impaired  eyesight,  which  threatened  constantly 
to  end  in  total  blindness,  forbade.  After  two  years  in 
Europe,  where  he  consulted  without  relief  the  best 
oculists  of  the  time,  he  returned  to  Boston  and  settled 
down  to  the  work  of  his  life,  which  circumstances  had 
decreed  should  be  the  writing  of  the  history  of  Spain 
during  the  romantic  period  before  and  after  the  dis- 
covery of  America.  It  was  a  new  field;  Irving  had 
done  pioneer  work  in  it,  but  much  of  it  was  as  yet  un- 
explored. Fortunately,  Prescott,  being  liberally  sup- 
plied with  means,  was  able  to  prosecute  his  studies 
without  having  to  be  hampered  by  a  profession.  He 
employed  $,  secretary,  invented  a  writing-frame  similar 
to  those  commonly  used  by  the  blind,  and  with  great 
zeal  and  labor  passed  the  next  twelve  years  with  the 
reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  The  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  the  heroic  worker  were  almost  insuperable. 
Holmes  once  declared  that  Prescott's  Conquest  of 
Mexico  achieved  itself  "  under  difficulties  hardly  less 
formidable  than  those  encountered  by  Cortez." 

The  History  of  the  Reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
was  published  in '1837,  the  year  that  witnessed  so  many 
notable  beginnings  in  American  literature.  Its  success 
was  instantaneous,  the  brilliant  period  which  it  chron- 
icled, and  the  sparkle  and  dash  of  its  style  making  it, 
for  a  time,  like  Macaulay's  History  of  England,  able  to 
"supersede  the  last  fashionable  novel  on  the  table  of 
young  ladies."  The  volume  shone  with  all  the  more 
brightness  since  it  was  then  almost  a  solitary  phenom- 


308  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

enon  in  American  literature,  Irving's  Spanish  histories, 
which  had  but  recently  appeared,  being  the  only  works 
with  which  to  compare  it.  The  first  volume  of  Ban- 
croft's more  weighty  history,  which  had  appeared  three 
years  before,  had  fallen  from  the  press  almost  unnoticed 
by  the  multitude;  Motley  and  Hildreth,  Palfrey  and 
Parkman,  were  as  yet  unknown. 

In  1843  Prescott  published  the  History  of  the  Con- 
quest of  Mexico  and  four  years  later  the  History  of  the 
Conquest  of  Peru.  He  then  commenced  what  he  in- 
tended should  be  his  master  work,  the  History  of  the 
Reign  of  Philip  the  Second,  but  he  had  completed  only 
three  volumes,  covering  about  fifteen  years  of  the  mon- 
arch's long  reign  of  forty-three  years,  when  he  was 
stricken  with  apoplexy  and  died  in  the  midst  of  his 
labors,  Jan.  28,  1859. 

His  Style.  —  ( Whipple's  Essays  and  Reviews,  Vol.  II. ; 
Richardson,  L,  494-501;  Ticknor's  Life  of  Prescott, 
217-230.)  The  student  of  Prescott's  style  should  not 
forget  that  his  histories  deal  with  a  brilliant  and  pictu- 
resque era.  The  vague,  mediaeval  background  of  Fer- 
dinand and  Isabella;  the  tropical  Spanish  character;  the 
pageantry  and  pomp  and  romance  of  the  Moorish  wars ; 
the  discovery  of  a  new  world ;  the  feverish  dreams  of 
gold  and  empire,  and  the  mad  delirium  of  the  American 
conquests,  —  all  these  demanded  a  most  gorgeous  can- 
vas. No  one  could  be  dull  with  such  material,  and 
Prescott,  who  possessed  a  vivid  imagination  and  a  mas- 
tery of  graphic  description  fully  equal  to  Cooper's  at  his 
best,  could  not  fail  of  being  enchantingly  interesting. 


THE  HISTORIANS.  309 

He  wrote  ever  with  painstaking  care;  he  revised  his 
sentences  with  all  the  fastidious  care  of  a  Macaulay. 
"  His  infirmity,"  says  his  biographer,  "  was  a  controlling 
influence,  and  is  to  be  counted  among  the  secrets  of  a 
manner  which  has  been  found  at  once  so  simple  and  so 
charming.  He  was  compelled  to  prepare  everything, 
down  to  the  smallest  details,  in  his  memory,  and  to 
correct  and  fashion  it  all  while  it  was  still  held  there  in 
silent  suspense ;  after  which  he  wrote  it  down,  by  means 
of  his  noctograph,  in  the  freest  and  boldest  manner, 
without  any  opportunity  really  to  change  the  phrase- 
ology as  he  went  along,  and  with  little  power  to  alter 
or  modify  it  afterwards.  This,  I  doubt  not,  was  among 
the  principal  causes  of  the  strength,  as  well  as  of  the 
grace,  ease,  and  attractiveness  of  his  style.  It  gave  a 
life,  a  freshness,  a  freedom,  both  to  his  thoughts  and  to 
his  mode  of  expressing  them.  .  .  .  He  was  able  to  carry 
what  was  equal  to  sixty  pages  of  printed  matter  in 
his  memory  for  many  days,  correcting  and  finishing 
its  style  as  he  walked  or  rode  or  drove  for  his  daily 
exercise." 

In  his  field  Prescott  has  been  equalled  only  by 
Cooper  and  surpassed  only  by  Parkman.  The  defects 
of  his  style  are  chiefly  those  of  excess.  The  writer  of 
graphic  pictorial  description  must  ever  career  upon 
the  verge  of  a  precipice,  and  Prescott,  like  Cooper, 
sometimes  fell  into  the  depths  of  bombast  and  fine  writ- 
ing. He  delighted  in  battles  and  scenes  of  action,  but 
he  never,  like  Macaulay,  sacrificed  truth  to  rhetoric  nor 
dragged  in  useless  scenes  to  exhibit  his  mastery  over 


310  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

them.  His  power  was  chiefly  that  of  a  skilful  narrator. 
Stripped  of  their  pictorial  effects,  his  histories  would 
still  be  valuable,  but  they  would  lose  the  greater  part 
of  their  charm. 

His  Rank.  —  From  the  first  publication  of  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella  until  long  after  its  author's  death,  Prescott 
was  ranked  both  at  home  and  abroad  as  the  leader  of 
American  historians.  In  later  days,  however,  this  posi- 
tion has  been  sharply  questioned.  Much  of  Prescott's 
early  popularity  was  won  by  the  brilliancy  of  his  themes 
and  of  his  rhetoric.  It  is  now  evident  that  his  works 
lack  the  broad  horizon  and  the  critical  insight  which 
characterize  the  histories  of  Bancroft  and  Motley.  He 
has  been  surpassed,  too,  by  Parkman  in  his  own  field  of 
graphic  delineation.  Yet  Prescott's  place  is  still  an 
enviable  one.  He  was  wise  in  his  choice  of  subjects, 
and  exhaustive  in  his  accumulation  of  materials.  He 
had  the  tireless  patience  and  the  mania  for  exactness 
which  are  the  distinctive  marks  of  the  modern  histo- 
rian, and  his  judgment  as  to  the  genuineness  and  value 
of  authorities  was  seldom  at  fault.  He  was  lacking  in 
analytical  power  and  philosophical  insight,  and  lacking 
this,  his  histories  can  never  gain  a  place  beside  the  great 
histories  that  are  for  all  time ;  yet  with  their  accuracy 
and  thoroughness  and  brilliancy  it  will  indeed  be  long 
before  they  will  be  rewritten  or  forgotten. 

SUGGESTED  READINGS.  —  "The  Capture  of  Granada,"  Ferdi- 
nand and  Isabella,  Vol.  I.,  ix.;  "  The  Character  of  Isabella,"  ibid., 
Vol.  IL,  xvi.;  «  The  Battle  of  Otumba,"  The  Conquest  of  Mexico, 
Book  V.,  iv. 


THE  HISTORIANS.  311 

2.   GEORGE  BANCROFT  (1800-1891). 

Life.  —  (Century,  Vol.  XI.;  Jameson's  Historical  Writ- 
ing in  America).  George  Bancroft,  born  October  3, 
1800,  was  the  son  of  Aaron  Bancroft,  who  was  a  gradu- 
ate of  Harvard,  a  biographer  of  Washington,  and  a 
pastor  for  more  than  fifty  years  of  the  Unitarian  church 
of  Worcester,  Massachusetts.  At  the  age  of  thirteen 
Bancroft  entered  Harvard  fully  prepared,  and,  upon  his 
graduation  four  years  later,  he  went  to  Germany  for 
post-graduate  work.  At  the  age  of  twenty  he  won  the 
degree  of  Ph.D.  from  the  University  of  Gb'ttingen,  hav- 
ing pursued  with  distinction  under  the  best  scholars  of  the 
time  the  German,  French,  Italian,  Arabic,  and  Hebrew 
languages,  Scripture  interpretation,  history,  philosophy, 
science,  and  antiquities.  Two  years  later,  having  studied 
at  Berlin  and  Heidelberg,  and  having  made  an  extended 
tour  through  Europe,  he  returned  to  America,  one  of 
the  most  profound  and  finished  scholars  of  his  day. 

Bancroft's  first  literary  work,  aside  from  a  thin  vol- 
ume of  poems  published  in  1823,  consisted  of  learned 
translations  from  the  German  and  scholarly  essays  and 
reviews,  but  he  soon  devoted  all  of  his  energies  to  what 
was  to  become  the  chief  work  of  his  life, — an  exhaustive 
study  of  the  early  history  of  the  United  States.  The 
first  volume  of  this  monumental  work  appeared  in  1834, 
and  the  final  and  complete  edition  of  the  twelve  volumes 
was  published  just  half  a  century  later. 

Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States  is  a  narrative 
and  critical  account  of  the  Colonial  and  Revolutionary 


312  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

periods  of  American  history.  The  first  three  volumes 
consider  the  Colonial  era,  the  next  seven  volumes  treat 
of  the  Revolutionary  period,  dividing  it  into  five  epochs, 
while  the  last  two  volumes  describe  "  the  formation  of 
the  American  Constitution."  The  history  ends  with 
the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  by  the  States  and  the 
birth  of  the  new  nation.  Within  its  limits  the  work 
aims  to  be  exhaustive.  Everywhere  is  manifest  the 
author's  ruling  thought,  which  he  declared  to  be  a  "  fixed 
purpose  to  secure  perfect  accuracy  in  the  relation  of 
facts,  even  to  their  details  and  their  coloring,  and  to 
keep  truth  clear  from  the  clouds,  however  brilliant,  of 
conjecture  and  tradition."  To  secure  this  accuracy, 
Bancroft  examined,  both  in  America  and  in  Europe, 
vast  collections  of  documents  and  state  papers,  many  of 
which  had  never  before  been  explored.  The  extent  and 
thoroughness  of  this  preliminary  work  is  seldom  mani- 
fest to  the  reader.  There  are  no  references  nor  foot- 
notes, and  startling  statements  are  often  made  with 
seeming  carelessness.  But  many  a  critic  has  found  to 
his  cost  that  the  author  could  verify  even  his  most  trivial 
statements  by  a  formidable  array  of  authorities. 

Bancroft's  history  has  now  become  the  standard  au- 
thority on  the  period  of  which  it  treats.  Notwithstand- 
ing its  slightly  partisan  nature,  since  it  contends  that 
the  development  of  our  government  was  according  to 
the  principles  formulated  by  Jefferson  and  put  into 
practice  by  Jackson,  it  is  accepted  with  confidence  by 
all  parties.  While  it  is  not  the  final  history  of  the 
epoch  which  it  covers,  this  being  as  yet  too  near  our 


THE  HISTORIANS.  313 

own  day  for  perfect  perspective  and  unbiased  judgments, 
its  accurate  characterizations  of  men  and  events,  its  broad 
scholarship,  its  critical  studies  of  causes  and  effects,and  its 
swift  condensation  of  vast  amounts  of  information,  all 
combine  to  make  it  one  of  the  world's  great  histories. 

His  Rank.  —  Although  Bancroft  did  a  great  amount 
of  work  as  a  compiler  of  historical  collections,  as  editor 
of  many  valuable  works,  and  as  orator  on  numberless 
important  occasions,  his  fame  rests  almost  wholly  upon 
his  one  great  history.  The  literary  merits  of  the  work 
are  very  moderate.  While  its  style  is  clear  and  definite, 
it  is  often  labored  and  diffuse ;  its  author  lacked  the  art 
of  graphic  narration  so  fully  possessed  by  Prescott  and 
Parkman ;  his  pages  are  often  "  hard  reading,"  but  his 
scholarship,  his  analytical  and  critical  powers,  and  his  in- 
sistence upon  perfect  accuracy,  more  than  compensate  for 
the  defects  of  his  style.  Taken  for  all  in  all,  Bancroft 
is  to  be  compared  with  no  modern  British  historian  save 
Froude,  and  with  no  American  historian  save  Motley. 

Much  of  Bancroft's  literary  work  was  done  amid  the 
multifarious  cares  of  public  life.  He  was  collector  of 
the  port  of  Boston  in  1838,  and  in  1844  was  an  unsuc- 
cessful candidate  for  governor  of  Massachusetts.  While 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  under  President  Polk,  he  estab- 
lished the  Naval  Academy  at  Annapolis,  and  as  minister 
at  various  times  to  Great  Britain,  Prussia,  the  North 
German  Confederation,  and  Germany,  he  made  for  him- 
self a  brilliant  record  as  a  statesman  and  diplomatist. 

SUGGESTED  READING. — The  Battles  of  Lexington  and  Bunker 
Hill,  Vol.  4,  xiii.  and  xiv. 


314  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

3.   JOHN  LOTHROP  MOTLEY  (1814-1877). 

Life  (by  Holmes ;  Correspondence  of  John  Lothrop 
Motley,  edited  by  G.  W.  Curtis).  The  life  of  Motley 
resembles  in  many  of  its  details  that  of  his  illustrious 
fellow-historian,  Bancroft.  Entering  Harvard  College 
at  the  early  age  of  thirteen,  he  completed  his  course 
with  credit  and  immediately  sailed  for  Europe,  where 
he  passed  the  next  two  years  at  Gottingen  and  Berlin. 
Bancroft's  choice  of  a  life-work  had  been  the  ministry ; 
Motley  chose  the  law;  but  both,  preferring  a  literary 
life,  early  abandoned  their  professions.  Bancroft's  first 
literary  venture  had  been  a  volume  of  poems ;  Motley 
poured  forth  his  youthful  aspirations  and  visions  in  an 
incoherent,  semi-autobiographical  novel  called  Morton's 
Hope.  Bancroft  became  the  historian  of  the  heroes 
of  1776  and  their  grand  leader,  Washington;  Motley 
chronicled  the  heroic  rising  of  1576  under  an  equally 
grand  leader,  William  of  Orange.  Both  men  honored 
their  nation  by  their  brilliant  achievements  in  the  dip- 
lomatic field,  and  both  are  now  universally  recognized 
as  historians  of  the  very  highest  rank. 

The  utter  failure  of  Motley's  first  book  did  not 
destroy  his  ambition  to  enter  the  literary  field  as  a  nov- 
elist. In  1849,  just  ten  years  after  his  first  venture,  he 
published  Merry  Mount,  a  Romance  of  the  Massachusetts 
Colony,  a  work  of  considerable  merit.  In  its  delinea- 
tion of  character,  invention  of  circumstances,  and  man- 
agement of  plot,  the  book  everywhere  displays  the 
crudeness  of  the  amateur  novelist ;  its  strength  lies  in 


THE  HISTORIANS.  315 

its  fine  descriptions  of  nature  and  in  the  vividness  and 
truth  of  its  historical  setting.  It  was  evident  that  Mot- 
ley had  only  to  persevere  in  his  work  to  become  a  nov- 
elist of  power,  but  the  young  writer  soon  discovered 
where  lay  his  greatest  strength.  Several  historical 
studies  contributed  to  the  North  American  Review  had 
met  with  a  most  flattering  reception.  He  now  "  felt  an 
inevitable  impulse  to  write  one  particular  history,"  the 
history  of  the  rise  and  development  of  the  Dutch 
Republic.  "  I  had  not,"  he  wrote  in  1850,  "  first  to 
make  up  my  mind  to  write  a  history  and  then  cast  about 
to  take  up  a  subject.  My  subject  had  taken  me  up, 
drawn  me  on,  and  absorbed  me  into  itself.  It  was 
necessary  for  me,  it  seemed,  to  write  the  book  .  .  . 
and  I  had  no  inclination  or  interest  to  write  any  other." 
Several  years  of  study  and  research  on  this  side  of 
the  Atlantic  convinced  the  historian  that  an  accurate 
and  valuable  history  could  be  written  only  in  Europe, 
where  he  could  have  access  to  original  documents  and 
state  papers.  Accordingly,  in  1851,  he  removed  with 
his  family  to  Germany,  and  during  the  next  few  years 
was  buried  in  the  rich  archives  of  Berlin,  Dresden,  The 
Hague,  and  Brussels.  The  story  of  the  historian's  tire- 
less industry  in  the  preparation  of  his  materials  should 
be  read  by  every  young  person  with  literary  aspirations. 
To  realize  the  full  extent  of  his  labors,  one  should  read 
his  letter  to  F.  H.  Underwood,  quoted  in  Holmes'  Life 
of  Motley,  Ch.  XIV.  He  read  all  possible  works  bearing 
on  his  theme.  The  learned  Dutch  archivist,  van  Prin- 
sterer,  was  amazed  to  find  that  the  young  historian  had 


316  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

read  almost  all  the  ponderous  tomes  in  his  volumi- 
nous collection.  He  ransacked  the  larger  part  of  the 
libraries  of  Europe  and  explored  the  archives  in  most 
of  the  leading  capitals.  He  had  copyists  in  England, 
Spain,  and  The  Hague,  constantly  engaged  in  transcrib- 
ing for  his  use  rare  documents  and  state  papers.  He 
spent  months  with  his  secretary  in  deciphering  almost 
unreadable  letters  and  manuscripts.  During  the  five 
years  that  he  passed  in  Europe  writing  his  first  work, 
he  confessed  that  he  made  scarcely  an  acquaintance 
except  with  librarians. 

Histories  of  the  Netherlands. — Motley's  first  work, 
The  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  in  three  volumes,  which 
brought  the  history  of  the  revolt  of  the  Netherlands 
down  to  the  death  of  William  the  Silent,  was  published 
in  London  in  1856.  Its  success  was  instantaneous ;  it 
was  republished  in  New  York,  Holland,  Germany,  and 
France,  and  its  author  rose  at  once  from  obscurity  to 
a  place  among  the  standard  historians. 

Motley  started  with  the  intention  of  writing  an  ex- 
haustive history  of  that  "most  remarkable  epoch  in 
human  history,  from  the  abdication  of  Charles  Fifth  to 
the  Peace  of  Westphalia."  The  general  title  of  this 
work  was  to  be  "  The  Eighty  Years'  War  for  Liberty," 
and  the  subject  was  to  be  considered  in  three  parts 
corresponding  to  three  epochs :  The  Rise  of  the  Dutch 
Republic ;  The  United  Netherlands  bringing  the  narra- 
tive down  to  1609 ;  and  the  Thirty  Years'  War  ending 
with  the  Peace  of  Westphalia.  After  finishing  the  first 
two  epochs,  Motley  turned  aside  for  a  time  to  write 


THE  HISTORIANS.  317 

what  proved  to  be  his  last  work,  the  full  title  of  which 
is  The  Life  and  Death  of  John  of  Barneveld,  Advocate 
of  Holland,  with  a  View  of  the  Primary  Causes  of  the 
Thirty  Years'  War.  "It  is,"  comments  Dr.  Holmes, 
"an  interlude,  a  pause  between  the  acts  which  were 
to  fill  out  the  complete  plan  of  '  The  Eighty  Years' 
Tragedy,'  and  of  which  the  last  act,  the  Thirty  Years' 
War,  remains  unwritten." 

"  My  subject,"  wrote  Motley  in  1859,  "  is  a  very  vast 
one,  for  the  struggle  of  the  United  Provinces  with  Spain 
was  one  in  which  all  the  leading  states  of  Europe  were 
more  or  less  involved.  After  the  death  of  William  the 
Silent  the  history  assumes  world-wide  proportions.  Thus 
the  volume  I  am  just  about  terminating  [Vol.  II.  United 
Netherlands'}  ...  is  almost  as  much  English  history  as 
Dutch."  The  history  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  would 
have  been  in  reality  the  history  of  Europe  during  its 
most  stirring  epoch.  The  long  illness  and  early  death 
of  Motley,  who  was  of  all  others  best  equipped  to 
grapple  with  this  chaotic  subject,  certainly  robbed  the 
world's  literature  of  what  would  have  been  a  priceless 
possession. 

Motley's  Rank. —(Richardson,  I.,  502-507 ;  Whipple's 
Recollections  of  Eminent  Men.)  Like  Prescott,  Motley 
dealt  with  a  most  fascinating  period,  one  that  could  be 
painted  in  brilliant  colors.  It  was  far  enough  removed 
for  accurate  perspective  and  everything  was  ready  for  a 
historian  who  could  speak  the  last  word  concerning  it. 
Motley  united  the  breadth  of  mind  and  the  analytical 
and  critical  qualities  of  Bancroft  with  the  graphic  style 


318  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

and  brilliant  execution  of  Prescott.  He  excelled  in 
studies  of  great  historical  personages.  His  pictures  of 
William  of  Orange,  of  Philip  II.,  of  Granville,  and  the 
infamous  Duke  of  Alva,  of  Elizabeth  and  the  hundreds 
of  other  famous  personages  in  all  the  courts  of  Europe, 
are  drawn  with  all  the  accuracy  and  life  of  an  old  Dutch 
painting.  Like  Prescott,  he  could  depict  scenes  of 
action  with  thrilling  reality.  His  descriptions  of  the 
siege  of  Antwerp  and  of  Haarlem,  of  the  defence  of 
Leyden,  and  of  the  famous  episode  of  the  Spanish 
Armada,  are  dramatic  in  their  terrible  intensity. 

It  is  now  generally  agreed  that  Motley  is  not  only  the 
leader  of  the  American  school  of  historians,  but  the  peer 
of  the  foremost  British  historians  of  the  century. 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  Merry  Mount,  Vol.  II.,  chs.  viii.  and 
xvi. ;  «  The  Defence  of  Leyden,"  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  Vol. 
II.,  Part  4,  ch.  2.  "Queen  Elizabeth,"  The  United  Netherlands, 
Ch.  41. 

4.     FRANCIS  PARKMAN  (1823-1893). 

Life.  —  (Farnham's  Life  of  Parkman,  Fiske's  A  Century 
of  Science,  and  Vedder's  American  Writers  of  To-day.) 
The  early  experiences  of  Francis  Parkman  were  much  the 
same  as  those  of  all  the  historians  of  the  earlier  group, 
He  was  a  native  of  Massachusetts  and  a  graduate  of 
Harvard  College ;  after  a  short  visit  to  Europe,  taken 
at  the  advice  of  his  physician,  during  the  last  year  of 
his  college  course,  he  commenced  the  study  of  law,  but 
after  two  years  in  the  Harvard  Law  School  he  aban- 
doned it  to  devote  his  whole  time  to  historical  studies. 


THE  HISTORIANS.  319 

Parkman's  first  inspiration  came  from  Jared  Sparks, 
Harvard's  first  professor  of  history.  Even  before  leav- 
ing college  he  had  determined  upon  his  career,  —  he 
would  write  the  history  of  the  long  struggle  between 
France  and  England  for  the  possession  of  North 
America.  He  did  not  have  to  choose  a  subject,  —  his 
subject  rather  chose  him.  Like  Motley,  he  became  so 
infatuated  with  his  theme  that  he  could  devote  himself 
to  nothing  else.  From  the  very  first  he  perceived  that 
to  make  his  work  in  any  way  authoritative  he  must  study 
at  first  hand  the  character  and  life  of  the  Indian  who 
figures  so  conspicuously  during  the  epoch,  and  collect 
both  in  America  and  France  a  vast  mass  of  state  papers 
and  other  authorities. 

Studying  the  Indian.  —  In  the  spring  of  1846,  Park- 
man,  with  a  single  companion,  set  out  to  study  wild 
life  in  the  Northwest,  taking  the  vague  trail  from  Fort 
Leavenworth  up  the  Platte  River  to  Fort  Laramie,  the 
route  traversed  fourteen  years  previously  by  Captain 
Bonneville,  whose  experiences  were  recorded  by  Irving. 
From  Fort  Laramie  he  went  westward  to  the  Black 
Hills,  where  he  fell  in  with  a  tribe  of  Sioux  Indians  on 
their  summer  hunting  expedition.  For  the  next  few 
weeks  he  lived  as  an  Indian,  sharing  in  all  the  details  of 
savage  life.  He  dwelt  in  their  wigwams  and  partook  of 
their  coarse  food ;  he  joined  in  their  buffalo  hunts,  sat 
at  their  councils,  and  studied  closely  their  customs  and 
peculiarities  and  ways  of  thinking.  But  the  hardships 
which  he  was  forced  to  undergo  told  fearfully  upon  him. 
A  serious  disease,  which  his  rough  life  and  barbarous 


320  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

food  constantly  aggravated,  fastened  itself  upon  him. 
For  weeks  he  was  dangerously  ill,  but  his  iron  will  kept 
him  in  the  saddle. 

In  1847  he  published  an  account  of  his  adventures 
under  the  title  of  The  Oregon  Trail,  a  book  that  has  all 
the  thrill  and  fascination  of  a  novel  by  Scott  or  Cooper. 
No  better  description  has  ever  been  written  of  the  wild 
life  of  the  West  in  the  days  when  the  buffalo  blackened 
the  plains  and  the  Indian  pursued  his  savage  life  un- 
touched by  civilization.  The  book  belongs  with  Irving's 
Wild  Western  series,  which  deal  with  substantially  the 
same  period  and  territory. 

Parkman's  next  volume,  The  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac 
(1851),  made  deep  draughts  on  its  author's  intimate 
knowledge  of  Indian  life  and  character.  In  it  he  aimed 
"to  portray  the  American  forest  and  the  American 
Indian  at  the  period  when  both  received  their  final 
doom."  The  author  visited  every  scene  described,  and, 
to  secure  absolute  accuracy  of  statement,  examined, 
according  to  his  own  words,  "  letters,  journals,  reports, 
and  despatches  scattered  among  numerous  public  offices 
in  Europe  and  America,"  which,  "when  brought  to- 
gether, amounted  to  about  thirty-four  hundred  pages." 
Out  of  this  dry  and  lifeless  mass  Parkman  constructed 
a  work  which  reads  like  a  romance. 

France  and  England  in  North  America.  —  Parkman 
now  commenced  upon  the  work  of  his  life,  —  the  series 
of  narratives  that  was  to  cover  the  struggle  of  two  great 
nations  for  a  continent.  It  was  a  field  wholly  unex- 
plored ;  it  was  far  enough  removed  for  accurate  perspec- 


THE  HISTORIANS.  321 

tive ;  it  had  sharply  defined  limits ;  its  historian  could 
approach  it  without  prejudice ;  and,  more  than  all, 
it  was  a  field  of  vast  importance.  The  far-reaching 
problems  that  were  settled  by  the  struggle  are  thus  pre* 
sented  by  the  historian : 

"  The  most  momentous  and  far-reaching  question  ever  brought  to 
issue  on  this  continent  was :  Shall  France  remain  here  or  shall  she 
not  ?  If,  by  diplomacy  or  war,  she  had  preserved  but  the  half,  or 
the  less  than  the  half,  of  her  American  possessions,  then  a  barrier 
would  have  been  set  to  the  spread  of  the  English-speaking  races ; 
there  would  have  been  no  Revolutionary  War;  and,  for  a  long 
time  at  least,  no  Independence.  .  .  .  The  Seven  Years'  War 
made  England  what  she  is.  It  crippled  the  commerce  of  her  rival, 
ruined  France  in  two  continents,  and  blighted  her  as  a  colonial 
power,  it  gave  England  the  control  of  the  seas  and  the  mastery 
of  North  America  and  India;  made  her  the  first  of  the  commercial 
nations,  and  prepared  that  vast  colonial  system  that  has  planted 
New  Englands  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  And  while  it  made 
England  what  she  is,  it  supplied  to  the  United  States  the  indispen- 
sable condition  of  their  greatness,  if  not  their  national  existence." 
—  Preface  to  Montcalm  and  Wolfe. 

The  general  title  adopted  by  Parkman  for  his  work 
was  France  and  England  in  North  America :  a  Series  of 
Historical  Narratives.  The  successive  volumes  are: 
1.  Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World,  in  two  parts, 
the  first  treating  of  "  The  Huguenots  in  Florida,"  and 
the  second  of  "  Samuel  de  Cham  plain  " ;  2.  The  Jesuits 
in  North  America  ;  3.  La  Salle  ;  and  the  Discovery  of  the 
G-reat  West ;  4.  The  Old  Regime  in  Canada ;  5.  Count 
Frontenac  ;  or  New  France  under  Louis  XIV.;  6.  A 
Half  Century  of  Conflict ;  7.  Montcalm  and  Wolfe.  The 
Conspiracy  of  Pontiac  and  the  Indian  Wars  after  the  Con- 
quest of  Canada,  the  full  title  of  Parkman's  second  book, 


322  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

while  not  included  under  the  general  title,  follows  natu- 
rally  as  the  eighth  volume  of  the  series. 

Parkman's  Style  and  Rank.  —  (Richardson,  I.,  482- 
494.)  The  chief  value  of  Parkman's  histories  lies  in 
their  accuracy  and  their  narrative  power.  The  historian 
knew  his  field  perfectly,  and,  like  Motley  and  Bancroft, 
he  spared  no  pains  to  verify  his  every  statement.  He 
had  all  the  brilliancy  of  Prescott's  style  and  more.  He 
chose  his  points  of  view  with  rare  skill,  and  so  graphi- 
cally did  he  describe  what  he  saw  that  the  reader  lays 
down  his  narrative  with  a  feeling  almost  of  personal 
participation  in  the  events  he  has  read.  One  may  seek 
in  vain  for  histories  more  full  of  picturesque  detail  and 
dramatic  episode.  Parkman,  unlike  Bancroft  and  Mot- 
ley, seldom  attempted  analysis  or  philosophic  criticism. 
His  histories  are  what  he  intended  them  to  be,  "a  series 
of  historical  narratives,"  perfectly  accurate  in  statement 
and  background,  thoroughly  covering  the  epoch  with 
which  they  deal,  yet  histories  which  might  easily  be 
"  read  by  mistake  as  romances." 

While  Parkman  can  never  take  rank  with  the  great 
narrative  and  critical  historians  like  Froude  and  Motley, 
he  has  one  advantage  over  all  other  historians  of  the 
century,  —  his  work  can  never  be  done  again.  A  his- 
torian with  a  broader  outlook  and  a  more  tireless 
patience  than  Motley's  may  arise  to  write  again  the 
history  of  the  Netherlands ;  Bancroft's  work  without 
doubt  will  be  done  again,  but  while  future  historians 
may  increase  our  documentary  knowledge  of  the  French 
and  English  wars,  they  can  never  bring  to  their  work 


THE  HISTORIANS.  323 

Parkman's  preparation.  He  did  his  work  at  precisely 
the  right  time.  The  Indian  of  The  Oregon  Trail  was 
substantially  the  Indian  of  the  Seven  Years'  War,  but 
twenty-five  years  later  he  had  disappeared  forever. 

Difficulties  Attending  His  Work.  —  No  estimate  of 
Parkman's  work  can  be  complete  that  neglects  to  dwell 
upon  the  difficulties  with  which  he  had  to  contend  in 
£he  preparation  of  his  histories.  He  returned  from  his 
summer  in  the  West  with  shattered  health.  His  eyes 
became  affected  so  that,  like  Prescott,  he  was  nearly 
blind  throughout  the  rest  of  his  life.  "  For  about  three 
years,"  he  wrote  in  the  preface  to  The  Conspiracy  of 
Pontiac,  "the  light  of  day  was  insupportable  and  any 
attempt  at  reading  or  writing  completely  debarred. 
Under  these  circumstances  the  task  of  sifting  the  ma- 
terials and  composing  the  work  was  begun  and  finished. 
The  papers  were  repeatedly  read  aloud  by  an  amanu- 
ensis, copious  notes  and  extracts  were  made,  and  the 
narrative  written  down  from  my  dictation."  Through- 
out his  life  he  could  command  for  work  only  the  small- 
est portion  of  his  time.  From  1853  to  1863  he  could 
not  work  at  all,  even  the  rustle  of  a  newspaper  being 
unbearable,  but  by  carefully  using  every  available  mo- 
ment of  his  life  he  accomplished  to  the  full  the  dream 
of  his  youth.  His  works  are  not  only  great  histories  of 
a  memorable  era,  they  are  monuments  to  their  author's 
patient  perseverance  and  unconquerable  will. 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  The  Oregon  Trail,  Chs.  XTV.,  XV. s 
The  Jesuits  in  North  America,  or  Montcalm  and  Wolfe. 


XXIII. 
THE  ANTISLAVERY  LEADERS. 

THE  intellectual  and  humanitarian  movement  which 
reached  its  flood  in  New  England  during  the  conjunc- 
tion of  Emerson,  Ripley,  Alcott,  and  their  followers, 
spent  its  ebbing  energies  in  the  antislavery  movement 
preceding  the  Civil  War.  As  the  bright  theories  of  a 
new  society  founded  on  the  principle  of  universal 
brotherhood  became  more  and  more  untenable,  the  re- 
formers began  to  turn  their  attention  to  society  as  it 
actually  existed  and  to  insist  upon  the  correction  of  the 
most  obvious  evils.  Of  all  these  evils,  that  of  slavery 
was  most  glaring.  Some  of  the  extremists,  like  John 
Brown,  who  started  from  Concord  on  his  desperate 
errand  in  1858,  were  for  the  instant  and  unconditional 
abolition  of  slavery  by  any  means ;  others  of  the  group, 
like  Theodore  Parker,'  waged  at  great  personal  peril  a 
fierce  war  of  denunciation ;  while  others,  like  Emerson, 
used  more  quiet  methods. 

On  its  literary  and  intellectual  side  the  antislavery 
movement  was  brought  to  a  crisis  by  a  comparatively 
small  group  of  determined  workers.  Of  this  group 
Garrison  was  the  leader,  Sumner  the  statesman,  Phillips 
the  orator,  Mrs.  Stowe  the  novelist,  and  Whittier  the 
poet.  The  work  of  this  determined  little  band  closed 
the  period. 

324  < 


THE  ANTISLAVERY  LEADERS.  325 

1.  WILLIAM  LLOYD  GARRISON  (1805-1879).  —  (  Wil- 
liam Lloyd  G-arrison :  the  Story  of  his  Life  told  by  his 
Children ;  The  Moral  Crusader :  a  Biographical  Essay, 
by  Goldwin  Smith ;  G-arrison  and  his  Times,  by  Oliver 
Johnson;  Life,  by  A.  H.  Grimke.)  When,  in  1831, 
Garrison  started  his  Liberator  in  Boston  he  had  not,  to 
his  knowledge,  a  sympathizer  in  the  whole  nation.  The 
antislavery  principle  had  not  anywhere  one  outspoken 
defender.  All  political  parties  either  advocated  the  evil 
or  compromised  with  it ;  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  in  the  words  of  Webster,  "recognized  slavery 
and  gave  it  solemn  guarantees";  even  the  Church 
was  silent.  Against  this  widespread  and  deeply  rooted 
institution  Garrison  set  himself  single-handed.  He  was 
but  twenty-four  years  of  age,  uneducated  and  penniless; 
"  his  office  was  an  obscure  hole ;  his  only  visible  helper 
a  negro  boy,"  but  his  demand  was  the  immediate  aboli- 
tion of  slavery.  He  sent  broadcast  over  the  land  his 
heroic  challenge:  "I  will  be  as  harsh  as  truth  and  as 
uncompromising  as  justice.  ...  I  will  not  equivocate, 
I  will  not  excuse,  I  will  not  retreat  a  single  inch,  and  I 
will  be  heard."  He  poured  into  his  work  all  the  bound- 
less zeal  of  the  fanatic.  He  was  willing  to  sacrifice 
everything,  even  the  Union,  to  gain  his  single  point. 
He  denounced  the  Church  for  its  inactivity,  and  branded 
the  Constitution  as  "  a  league  with  death  and  a  covenant 
with  hell." 

There  could  be  but  one  result  of  words  poured  out  in 
such  terrible  earnestness.  The  deadness  of  the  public 
mind  was  soon  fully  aroused  to  life.  Mobs  assaulted 


326  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Garrison  everywhere  he  appeared.  In  1835  he  was 
dragged  with  a  rope  about  his  body  through  the  streets 
of  Boston.  Many  who  had  cared  little  for  the  freedom 
of  the  slaves  now  rallied  about  Garrison  to  defend  the 
freedom  of  speech  and  the  freedom  of  the  press.  The 
contest  became  widespread  and  bitter  beyond  expres- 
sion. 

The  writings  of  Garrison,  although  very  voluminous, 
would  not  in  themselves  give  their  author  literary 
distinction.  They  were  simply  a  means  to  an  end,  a 
by-product  from  a  career  devoted  fixedly  to  the  accom- 
plishment of  a  great  purpose.  His  ringing  orations  and 
scathing  paragraphs  are  now  as  dead  as  the  issue  that 
called  them  forth.  Yet  Garrison  will  ever  hold  a  high 
place  in  the  history  of  American  thought  and  litera- 
ture. While  it  is  yet  too  early  to  estimate  the  true 
extent  of  his  influence  on  the  spirit  of  his  times,  it  can 
with  safety  be  said  that  this  influence  was  widespread 
and  vital. 

2.  WENDELL  PHILLIPS  (1811-1884).  —  (Life  and 
Times  of  Wendell  Phillips,  by  G.  L.  Austin ;  Life^  by 
Carlos  Martyn.)  During  Holmes'  senior  year  at  Har- 
vard, Sumner,  Motley,  and  Phillips  were  undergraduates 
in  the  college,  the  last  two  being  in  the  same  class.  Like 
most  young  graduates  of  their  day,  all  three,  upon  leav- 
ing Harvard,  looked  to  the  law  as  a  life-work,  but  Sum- 
ner, although  he  became  an  able  writer  on  the  theory  of 
law  and  at  one  time  a  lecturer  in  the  law  school,  soon 
drifted  away  from  his  profession;  Motley  during  his 
two  years  at  the  Cambridge  school  read  vastly  more 


TRT,   ANTISLAVERY  LEADERS.  327 

history  than  law;  and  Phillips,  at  the  very  opening 
of  his  career  as  a  lawyer,  deliberately  abandoned  his 
profession  to  cast  his  lot  with  the  despised  abolition- 
ists. The  sight  of  Garrison  dragged  by  an  angry  mob 
past  the  very  "  cradle  of  liberty,"  had  filled  him  with 
furious  indignation.  He  had  wealth,  position,  educa- 
tion, brilliant  legal  attainments,  oratorical  power  in  an 
unusual  degree,  and  he  had  resolved  on  the  spot  to 
devote  them  all  to  this  downtrodden  cause.  An  oppor- 
tunity was  soon  at  hand.  In  December,  1837,  after 
violent  opposition,  the  friends  of  free  speech  gained  the 
use  of  Faneuil  Hall  for  a  public  meeting  to  take  notice 
of  the  death  of  Lovejoy,  an  abolitionist  editor  of  Alton, 
Illinois,  who  had  been  killed  by  a  mob  while  defending 
his  press.  But  the  meeting  threatened  to  end  in  worse 
than  failure.  The  hall  became  crowded  with  an  excited 
mob  that  was  soon  in  full  possession.  The  leader  de- 
clared, in  an  inflammatory  speech,  that  Lovejoy  had  died 
as  the  fool  dies.  The  moment  was  Phillips'  opportunity. 
Pouring  out  a  flood  of  mingled  scorn,  sarcasm,  and 
denunciation,  he  gained  the  attention  of  the  meeting, 
and  soon  with  his  resistless  eloquence  conquered  all 
opposition.  From  this  moment  he  became  the  recog- 
nized orator  of  abolitionism.  His  fierce  appeals  were 
heard  in  every  city,  and  time  and  again  he  con- 
quered and  captivated  audiences  which  had  gathered 
with  the  express  purpose  of  doing  him  bodily  harm. 

As  an  orator  Phillips  was  what  Henry  Clay  would 
have  been  with  a  Harvard  education.  To  Clay's  fire 
and  magnetism  he  joined  Everett's  rhetorical  art  and 


328  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

marvellous  vocabulary.  As  a  master  of  sarcasm  and 
invective  he  can  be  compared  only  to  John  Randolph  of 
Roanoke,  and  as  a  fierce  delighter  in  opposition  he  may 
be  compared  to  Webster.  But  Phillips'  orations,  like 
those  of  Clay,  are  hard  to  read.  Examined  in  cold  blood, 
his  sentences  often  seem  harsh  and  even  coarse.  The 
fire  of  his  invective  was  fed  at  times  with  unseemly 
material  and  he  often  depended  upon  his  consummate 
oratorical  skill  to  carry  sentences  that  will  hardly  pass 
the  searching  criticism  of  the  reader. 

During  his  last  years  Phillips  kept  alive  his  fame  as 
an  orator  with  his  popular  lectures  on  "  Toussant 
1'Ouverture  "  and  "The  Lost  Arts." 

3.  CHARLES  SCTMNER  (1811-1874).  —  (Memoirs  and 
Letters  of  Charles  Sumner,  E.  L.  Pierce;  The  Scholar 
in  Politics,  A.  H.  Grimke;  Life,  Anna  L.  Dawes.) 
In  the  national  councils  the  antislavery  cause  had 
a  redoubtable  champion  in  Charles  Sumner,  senator 
from  Massachusetts  from  1851  until  his  death.  With 
his  commanding  personality,  vast  learning,  comprehen- 
sive and  accurate  mind,  and  uncompromising  spirit,  he 
was  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  figures  of  the  epoch. 
Fame  had  sought  him  early.  He  was  scarcely  twenty- 
six  when  Carlyle,  noting  the  admiring  throngs  that 
attended  his  first  tour  through  Europe,  dubbed  him 
"Popularity  Sumner."  In  1845  he  had  won  instant 
fame  as  an  orator  with  his  celebrated  speech  on  "  The 
True  Grandeur  of  Nations,"  delivered  before  the 
authorities  of  the  city  of  Boston  on  July  4.  During 
the  same  year  he  had  allied  himself  with  the  antislavery 


THE  ANTISLAVEBY  LEADERS.  329 

party,  defending  his  position  in  several  powerful  ora- 
tions. Sumner' s  work  in  the  Senate  was  brilliant  and 
effective.  So  thoroughly  did  he  devote  himself  to  his 
cause  that  his  orations,  which  fill  twelve  volumes,  are 
almost  a  complete  "history  of  the  antislavery  move- 
ment in  its  connection  with  national  politics." 

To  his  friends  Sumner  was  the  embodiment  of  gener- 
osity, refinement,  and  good-fellowship,  but  to  his  ene- 
mies he  seemed  selfish,  domineering,  and  even  boorish. 
So  intensely  was  he  hated  by  the  pro-slavery  element, 
that  in  1856,  after  his  powerful  oration  on  the  wrongs  of 
Kansas,  his  enemies  determined  to  silence  him,  employ- 
ing for  that  purpose  one  Preston  S.  Brooks  of  South 
Carolina,  from  whose  hands  he  received,  while  sitting  at 
his  desk  at  the  Senate,  injuries  that  enfeebled  him  for 
several  years  and  indirectly  caused  his  death.  But  Sum- 
ner's inflexible  integrity,  and  his  intolerance  of  injustice 
and  of  sordid  aims,  were  acknowledged  even  by  his  foes. 

As  an  orator  Sumner  was  logical  and  convincing. 
While  he  had  not  the  tact  and  fire  of  Phillips,  his  ora- 
tions were,  nevertheless,  impetuous  and  overwhelming. 
They  forced  conviction,  point  by  point,  by  a  culmina- 
tion of  arguments  seemingly  unanswerable.  The  power 
of  his  orations  has  not  departed  with  the  occasions  that 
called  them  forth.  They  are  still  full  of  life  and 
beauty.  The  reader  is  surprised  at  the  wealth  of  schol- 
arly allusion,  and  the  brilliancy,  at  times,  of  the  rhetoric. 
The  style  is  stately  and  finished.  Many  of  the  ora- 
tions, strongly  in  contrast  with  those  of  Phillips,  rise  at 
times  almost  to  sublimity.  On  the  whole,  the  orations 


330  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

of  Summer  are  an  addition  to  American  literature  only 
less  important  than  the  work  of  Webster,  Choate,  and 
Everett. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "The  True  Grandeur  of  Nations,"  or 
"  The  Crime  against  Kansas." 

4.  HARRIET  BEECHER  STOWE  (1812-1896).  —  (Life, 
by  C.  E.  Stowe.)  For  two  generations  the  Beecher  fam- 
ily figured  prominently  in  the  history  of  American  liter- 
ature. During  the  first  half  of  the  century  Dr.  Lyman 
Beecher,  a  preacher  of  unusual  force  and  effectiveness, 
was  the  leader  in  the  attack  upon  Unitarianism.  His 
son,  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER  (1813-1887),  became  the 
most  famous  of  American  pulpit  divines,  and  not  to 
mention  others  of  the  family,  his  daughter,  Harriet, 
lived  to  write  the  most  popular  and  effective  novel  in 
the  language. 

It  seems  well-nigh  impossible  to  view  the  life  of  Har- 
riet Beecher  Stowe  save  from  the  standpoint  of  her  one 
great  achievement.  She  wrote  other  stories  as  thrilling, 
others  much  more  perfect  in  literary  art;  she  made 
studies  of  the  Yankee  character  and  dialect  that  are 
worthy  of  comparison  with  those  of  Lowell;  she  made 
sketches  of  life  and  character  that  are  irresistibly 
humorous  and  pathetic,  and  she  wrote  several  poems 
and  hymns  that  are  of  surpassing  sweetness,  but  to  the 
world  she  is  simply  the  author  of  Uncle  Torrfs  Cabin. 
Other  facts  seem  superfluous.  The  story  of  her  life 
must  lead  quickly  to  this  one  major  fact  and  dwell 
there. 

Uncle  Tom?s  Cabin  is  one  of  those  literary  phenomena 


THE  ANTISLAVERY  LEADERS.  331 

that  come  unheralded  and  unaccounted  for.  Its  author 
had  received  an  education  befitting  the  daughter  of  a 
New  England  minister,  had  taught  for  a  time  in  the 
schools,  and  when,  in  1882,  her  father  became  president 
of  Lane  Seminary,  had  removed  with  him  to  Ohio,  where 
some  years  later  she  was  married  to  Calvin  E.  Stowe, 
a  professor  in  the  seminary.  In  1849  she  published 
a  promising  volume  of  short  character  studies  entitled 
The  Mayflower ;  or  Sketches  of  the  Descendants  of  thv 
Pilgrims;  and  two  years  later,  as  a  result  of  this  T;O! 
ume,  she  received  a  check  for  $  100  from  the  editor  o^ 
The  National  Era,  an  antislavery  paper  in  Washington, 
with  the  request  that  she  write  as  much  of  a  story  of 
slave  life  as  she  could  for  the  money.  Thus  supplied 
with  a  subject,  she  began  to  write.  She  had  never  been 
an  ardent  abolitionist,  though  she  sympathized  warmly 
with  the  antislavery  workers ;  she  had  seen  something 
of  slave  life  in  Kentucky,  but  she  knew  little  of  slavery 
as  it  actually  existed  in  the  cotton  States  of  the  South. 
The  head  of  a  large  household  with  narrow  means,  she 
had  scant  time  to  devote  to  literary  work.  She  had 
intended  to  write  only  a  short  tale  of  slave  life,  but  the 
work  grew,  month  by  month,  until  in  a  year  and  a  half 
it  had  become  a  complete  novel. 

Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  was  published  in  book  form  in 
Boston  in  1852.  The  story  of  its  success  almost  ex- 
ceeds belief.  Seventy  thousand  copies  were  disposed  of 
before  the  critics  could  write  a  word ;  80,000  more 
were  ordered  faster  than  the  publishers  could  turn 
them  from  their  presses.  In  1855  the  Edinburgh  Meview 


332  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

declared  that  "  by  the  end  of  November  1852,  150,000 
copies  had  been  sold  in  America,  and  in  September  of 
that  year  the  London  publishers  furnished  to  one  house 
10,000  copies  per  day  for  about  four  weeks." 

It  was  translated  into  the  French  (three  versions), 
German  (fourteen  versions),  Danish,  Dutch,  Swedish, 
Spanish,  Portuguese,  Italian,  Welsh,  Russian,  Polish, 
Hungarian,  Wendish,  Wallachian,  Romanic,  Arabic,  and 
Armenian,  and  it  has  since  appeared  in  Chinese,  Turkish, 
Japanese,  and  many  other  tongues. 

Its  influence  on  the  times  can  hardly  be  estimated. 
It  did  more,  perhaps,  to  precipitate  the  war  than  did 
any  other  single  influence.  In  vain  did  its  enemies 
parody  its  thrilling,  sometimes  sensational,  scenes ;  in 
vain  did  they  argue  that  it  pictured  the  exception 
and  not  the  rule,  that  such  monsters  as  Simon  Legree 
existed  only  in  the  rarest  instances.  The  masses  in  the 
North,  believing  it  an  accurate  picture  of  daily  scenes  in 
the  South,  read  its  pages  with  horror  and  growing  indig- 
nation. From  a  literary  standpoint  the  novel  has  many 
defects.  As  a  work  of  art  it  is  not  to  be  compared  with 
many  of  its  author's  later  productions.  It  often  exhibits 
hasty  work ;  its  situations  are  sometimes  melodramatic 
and  its  characters  conventional;  but  its  verj^jdeie^cts 
increasedits  popularity,  which  has  not  for  a  moment 
waned.  It  is  now  the  most  widely  read  novel  in  the 
language,  and  to  very  many  foreigners  it  is  almost  the 
sole  representative  of  American  fiction. 

Tales  of  New  England  Life.  —  After  publishing 
another  antislavery  novel,  Dred :  a  Tale  of  the  Great 


THE  ANTISLAVERY  LEADERS.  333 

Dismal  Swamp,  which  was  soon  obscured  in  the  fierce 
light  of  Uncle  Toms  Cabin,  Mrs.  Stowe  turned  her 
attention  to  the  field  of  her  first  choice,  — studies  of  New 
England  village  life.  Of  these  the  best  are  The  Minis- 
ter's Wooing  (1859),  The  Pearl  of  Orrs  Island  (1862), 
Oldtown  Folks  (1869),  and  Sam  Lawsoris  Fireside 
Stories  (1871).  Had  she  written  nothing  else,  these 
would  still  give  her  a  high  place  among  American 
novelists.  Full  of  genuine  humor  and  skilful  charac- 
terization, intensely  faithful  to  the  region  and  the  time 
which  they  portray,  and  as  sweet  and  gentle  of  tone  as 
the  tales  of  Jane  Austen  or  Maria  Edgeworth,  they  form 
a  priceless  addition  to  our  literature.  In  Sam  Lawson 
Mrs.  Stowe  added  one  more  real  creation  to  the  gallery 
of  fiction,  —  a  Yankee  as  droll  and  shrewd  as  Hosea 
Biglow  himself. 

REQUIRED  READING. —  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin;  Oldtown  Folks. 

5.  JOHN  GREENLEAF  WHITTIEE  (1807-1892). — 

"  The  Poet  of  New  England.  His  genius  drew  its  nourishment  from 
her  soil,  his  pages  are  the  mirror  of  her  outward  nature,  and  the 
strong  utterance  of  her  inward  life."  —  Parkman. 

"  Taken  for  all  in  all,  Whittier,  '  our  bard  and  prophet  best- 
beloved,'  that  purely  American  minstrel,  so  virginal  and  so  impas- 
sioned, at  once  the  man  of  peace  and  the  poet  militant,  is  the  Sir 
Galahad  of  American  song.  He  has  read  the  hearts  of  his  own  people, 
and  chanted  their  emotions,  and  powerfully  affected  their  convictions. 
His  lyrics  of  freedom  and  reform,  in  his  own  justified  language,  were 
'words  wrung  from  the  Nation's  heart,  forged  at  white  heat.'  Long- 
fellow's national  poems,  with  all  their  finish,  cannot  rival  the  natural 
art  of  Whittier' s.  They  lack  the  glow,  the  earnestness,  the  intense 
characterization,  of  such  pieces  as  '  Randolph  of  Roanoke,'  '  Ichabod,' 
and  '  The  Lost  Occasion.'  "  —  Stedman. 


334  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Life.  —  (The  authorized  biography  of  Whittier  is 
Samuel  T.  Pickard's  Life  and  Letters  of  John  Green- 
leaf  Whittier.  Excellent  studies  of  the  poet's  life  and 
writings  have  been  written  by  F.  H.  Underwood,  by 
W.  S.  Kennedy,  and  by  W.  J.  Linton.  See  also  Stod- 
dard's  Homes  and  Haunts  of  our  Elder  Poets,  Miss  Mit- 
ford's  Recollections,  and  Griswold's  Home  Life  of  G-reat 
Authors.)  Whittier  was  born  in  Haverhill,  Massachu- 
setts, Dec.  17,  1807.  His  father,  the  tiller  of  a  rocky 
little  farm  burdened  with  debt,  was  a  fine  specimen  of 
the  New  England  yeoman  of  the  early  days,  —  God- 
fearing, hardworking,  intensely  practical ;  his  mother,  a 
typical  housewife  of  the  old  school,  not  only  attended 
to  her  kitchen  and  dairy,  but  spun  and  wove  and  made 
all  the  garments  for  her  household:  There  was  little  in 
the  boy's  early  life  and  surroundings  to  develop  poetic 
taste.  There  were  no  luxuries  and  few  holidays. 
Bryant,  Emerson,  Longfellow,  Holmes,  and  Lowell 
had  been  the  culmination  of  long  lines  of  scholarly 
men ;  had  grown  up  amid  refining  influences  with 
books-  for  daily  companions,  but  Whittier  had  no 
family  traditions  save  those  of  poverty  and  toil,  and 
his  life  until  early  manhood  was  passed  in  the  dreary 
round  of  farm  labor.  A  few  weeks  of  district  school 
in  the  winter  gave  him  his  early  education.  Of  his 
literary  advantages  he  has  left  an  interesting  account. 

"  We  had  only  about  twenty  volumes  of  books,  most  of  them 
the  journals  of  pioneer  ministers  in  our  society.  Our  only  annual 
was  an  almanac.  I  was  early  fond  of  reading  and  now  and  then 
heard  of  a  book  of  biography  or  travel  and  walked  a  mile  to  borrow 


THE  ANTISLAVEEY  LEADERS.  535 

It.  When  I  was  fourteen  years  old  my  first  schoolmaster,  Joshua 
Coffin,  the  able,  eccentric  historian  of  Newbury,  brought  with  him 
to  our  house  a  volume  of  Burns'  poems  from  which  he  read,  greatly 
to  my  delight.  I  begged  him  to  leave  the  book  with  me  and  set 
myself  to  the  task  of  mastering  the  glossary  of  the  Scotch  dialect 
at  its  close.  This  was  about  the  first  poetry  I  had  ever  read  — 
with  the  exception  of  the  Bible,  of  which  I  had  been  a  close  stu- 
dent— and  it  had  a  lasting  influence  on  me.  I  began  to  make 
rhymes  myself  and  to  imagine  stories  and  adventures.  In  fact, 
I  lived  a  sort  of  dual  life  in  the  world  of  fancy  as  well  as  in  the 
world  of  fact  about  me." 

It  was  Burns,  then,  who  awakened  the  slumbering 
genius  of  the  boy.  One  of  these  early  poems,  a  crude 
and  callow  production,  fell  into  the  hands  of  Garrison, 
who  was  then  editor  of  the  Newbury  port  Free  Press, 
and  by  great  good  fortune  it  was  published.  Others 
followed  and  Garrison,  becoming  interested  in  the  young 
poet,  visited  him  at  the  farm  at  Haverhill,  and  gave 
him  visions  of  an  education.  After  six  months  in 
Haverhill  Academy,  where  he  supported  himself  by 
making  shoes,  Whittier  went  to  Boston  as  a  writer  for 
The  American  Manufacturer,  and  soon  afterwards  he 
became  editor  of  The  Hartford  Review,  of  Connecticut, 
where  he  remained  for  several  years. 

Legends  of  New  England.  —  Whittier  began  his  liter- 
ary career  under  the  impression  that  there  was  a  rich 
mine  of  poetry  and  romance  in  the  history  and  traditions 
of  the  Indians,  —  a  delusion  that  was  widespread  during 
the  early  years  of  the  century.  Eastburn's  Yamoyden, 
which  appeared  in  1820,  had  been  for  a  time  the  most 
popular  work  in  American  literature.  This  poem,  and 
Dr.  Palfrey's  review  of  it  which  had  been  the  direct 


336  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

cause  of  the  novel  Holomok  by  Lydia  Maria  Francis 
(Child),  furnished  inspiration  to  a  throng  of  romantic 
young  poets,  of  which  number  Whittier  was  one.  His 
first  published  volume,  Legends  of  New  England,  in 
Prose  and  Verse  (1831),  a  series  of  tales  which  he  had 
gathered  about  many  a  winter  hearthstone  in  his  native 
town,  was  followed  in  1836  by  Mogg  Megone,  a  long 
poetical  effort  after  the  manner  of  Yamoyden,  and  in 
1848  by  The  Bridal  of  Pennacook.  In  later  years 
Whittier  smiled  at  much  of  this  early  work.  Of  Mogg 
Megone  he  wrote :  "  Looking  at  it  at  the  present  time  it 
suggests  the  idea  of  a  big  Indian  in  his  war  paint  strut- 
ting about  in  Sir  Walter  Scott's  plaid."  The  Bridal 
of  'Pennacook  contains  one  gem,  "  The  Merrimac,"  but 
aside  from  this  and  its  descriptions  of  New  England 
scenery,  it  has  little  value. 

Voices  of  Freedom.  — Whittier's  literary  career  may  be 
divided  into  two  distinct  periods,  the  first  characterized 
by  his  work  as  an  antislavery  advocate  and  the  second 
by  his  ballads  and  lyrics  of  New  England  rural  life. 
His  early  work  in  the  field  of  Indian  legend  was  not 
significant;  it  had  fallen  from  the  press  unheeded, 
partly  because  of  its  lack  of  commanding  strength, 
but  more  because  of  its  author's  out-spoken  position  on 
the  slavery  question. 

Whittier  inherited  with  his  Quaker  blood  what  he 
declared  to  be 

k  u  A  hate  of  tyranny  intense, 

And  hearty  in  its  vehemence 
As  if  my  brother's  pain  and  serrow  were  my  owa." 


THE  ANTISLAVERY  LEADERS.  337 

With  his  gentle  nature  and  boundless  respect  for  the 
rights  of  others,  he  looked  upon  human  slavery  with 
unfeigned  horror.  It  was  but  natural,  then,  when  his 
earliest  friend,  Garrison,  began  his  crusade  against  the 
evil,  that  Whittier  should  join  him  with  all  his  heart. 
In  1833  he  became  one  of  the  secretaries  of  the  first 
National  Antislavery  Convention.  In  1837  he  was  in 
the  office  of  the  American  Antislavery  Society  in  New- 
York,  and  the  next  year  he  edited  The  Pennsylvania 
Freeman  in  Philadelphia,  where  his  office  was  sacked 
and  burned  by  a  mob.  He  lectured  constantly,  often 
narrowly  escaping  personal  violence  from  mobs,  and, 
until  the  war  was  over,  ceased  not  to  pour  out  a  torrent 
of  indignant  verse  which  he  scattered  through  the  news- 
papers of  the  land.  In  1849  he  made  his  first  collec- 
tion of  these  lyrics  under  the  title  Voices  of  Freedom,  in 
which  he  gave  vent  to  his  soul  without  a  thought  of 
art  or,  indeed,  of  anything  save  his  burning  message. 
The  verses  became  war  cries  "  that  stir  the  blood,"  in 
the  words  of  Bryant,  "  like  a  trumpet  calling  to  battle." 
Few  poems  in  the  language  have  more  vigor  and  fire. 
Their  influence  in  moulding  the  spirit  of  the  North, 
while  not  to  be  compared  with  that  exerted  by  Uncle 
Tom's  Cabin,  was,  nevertheless,  an  important  one. 

The  close  of  this  first  period  in  Whittier's  literary 
life  is  marked  by  the  appearance  of  the  stirring  lyric, 
"  Laus  Deo,"  written  on  hearing  the  bells  ring  out  the 
news  of  the  passage  of  the  Constitutional  amendment 
prohibiting  slavery,  a  poem  Hebraic  in  its  exultation, 
How  could  mere  words  express  more  of  fierce  joy  ? 


S38  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

"  It  is  done  I 
Clang  of  bell  and  roar  of  gun 

Send  the  tidings  up  and  down. 

How  the  belfries  rock  and  reel  I 
How  the  great  guns,  peal  on  peal, 

Fling  the  joy  from  town  to  town  1 

"  Loud  and  long 

Lift  the  old  exulting  song ; 
Sing  with  Miriam  by  the  sea,  — 

He  has  cast  the  mighty  down ; 

Horse  and  rider  sink  and  drown ; 
*  He  has  triumphed  gloriously  1 ' 

"  Ring  and  swing, 
Bells  of  joy !     On  morning's  wing 

Send  the  song  of  praise  abroad ! 
With  a  sound  of  broken  chains 
Tell  the  nations  that  He  reigns, 

Who  alone  is  Lord  and  God  !  " 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  u  The  Virginia  Slave  Mother's  Lament," 
"Ichabod,"  "Laus  Deo,"  "  The  Pine  Tree,"  "Our  State." 

"The  Heart  of  New  England."  —  Although,  during 
the  antislavery  period  of  his  career,  Whittier's  best 
gifts,  as  he  expressed  it,  were  laid  on  the  shrine  of 
freedom,  he  found  time,  nevertheless,  to  write  many 
songs  and  ballads  of  New  England  life  and  legend ;  but 
when  the  war  was  over  he  gave  his  whole  heart  to  this 
one  work.  Few  poets  of  any  land  have  clung  to  their 
native  soil  with  a  love  more  real  and  vital.  He  could 
say  from  his  heart : 

"  Then  ask  not  why  to  those  bleak  hills 
I  cling,  as  clings  the  tufted  moss, 


THE  ANTISLAVERY  LEADERS.  339 

To  bear  the  winter's  lingering  chills, 

The  mocking  spring's  perpetual  loss. 
I  dream  of  lands  where  summer  smiles, 
And  soft  winds  blow  from  spicy  isles  ; 
But  scarce  could  Ceylon's  breath  of  flowers  be  sweet 
Could  I  not  feel  thy  soil,  New  England,  at  my  feet." 

What  Scott  and  Burns  were  to  Scotland,  Whittiei 
was  to  New  England.  He  touched  her  life  at  every 
point.  For  the  cold  facts  concerning  her  history  and 
people  one  may  go  to  Palfrey,  but  for  her  heart  and 
soul  one  must  read  the  poems  of  Whittier.  In  them 
one  sees  not  only  a  perfect  picture  of  stream  and  moun- 
tain, of  wildflower  and  forest  bird,  but  loving  studies 
of  that  sturdy  people  who  have  been  the  bone  and  sinew 
of  American  grandeur. 

1.  Idyls.  —  Snow  Bound,  a  Winter  Idyl,  which  stands 
as  the  most  characteristic  of  all  Whittier's  work,  is  a 
series  of  "Flemish  pictures"  drawn  lovingly  from 
memories  of  his  own  early  years.  Besides  being,  as 
Burroughs  declares  it,  "  the  most  faithful  picture  of  our 
Northern  winter  that  has  yet  been  put  into  poetry,"  it  is 
a  perfect  portrayal  of  the  inner  home  life  of  rural  New 
England.  As  a  work  of  art  Snow  Bound  is  well-nigh 
flawless,  in  every  way  worthy  of  comparison  with  such 
gems  as  "The  Cotter's  Saturday  Night"  and  The 
Deserted  Village. 

SUGGESTIONS  FOR  STUDYING  "  SNOW  BOUND."  —  What  is  an  idyl? 
What  other  idyls  can  you  mention?  Note  that  the  poem  opens 
abruptly  as  though  it  were  a  ballad.  What  is  gained  by  this 
device?  Are  there  any  needless  strokes  in  the  picture  of  the 
storm  and  its  approach  ?  Is  everything  true  to  nature  ?  Do  snow 


340  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

storms  come  in  a  similar  way  in  your  latitude?  Compare  the  lines 
describing  the  storm  with  Emerson's  "  Snow  Storm."  Which  seems 
to  you  the  more  vigorous  ?  Make  an  outline  of  the  poem  noting 
each  step  in  its  development.  Note  the  unities,  —  first,  of  time ; 
second,  of  place;  third,  of  action.  Compare  in  this  respect  with 
The  Biglow  Papers  and  Evangeline.  To  which  does  the  poet  devote 
the  most  attention, — the  picture  of  a  New  England  storm,  or  of 
a  New  England  rural  home?  In  what  respects  does  the  poem 
resemble  "The  Cotter's  Saturday  Night?"  Note  the  skill  with 
which  Whittier  introduces  his  characterizations,  using  the  storm 
as  a  background.  How  did  Goldsmith  introduce  his  characteriza- 
tions in  The  Deserted  Village  ?  Compare  the  schoolmasters  in  the 
two  poems.  Which  one  of  the  talkers  about  the  fire  did  not  give 
reminiscences?  Note  the  varied  pictures,  skilfully  introduced,  of 
New  England  life  and  nature  at  all  seasons.  What  facts  for  a 
biography  of  Whittier  could  be  gathered  from  this  poem  ?  Does 
he  neglect  to  make  known  his  position  on  the  antislavery  question  ? 
His  Quaker  training  ?  Note  the  paucity  of  Whittier's  early  library. 
What  touches  show  the  sweet  beauty  of  the  poet's  character  ?  De- 
scribe a  few  paintings  that  might  be  made  from  the  descriptions  in 
Snow  Bound. 

Among  Whittier's  other  New  England  idyls  drawn 
with  loving  care  from  memories  of  early  days,  the  best 
known  are  "The  Barefoot  Boy,"  "In  School  Days," 
"  Telling  the  Bees,"  the  Songs  of  Labor,  "  Among  the 
Hills,"  and  "Maud  Muller." 

REQUIRED  READING.  — " The  Barefoot  Boy,"  "Telling  the 
Bees,"  "Among  the  Hills,"  and  "Maud  Muller." 

-  2.  Ballads.  —  As  a  ballad  writer  Whittier  has  had  no 
equal  among  American  poets,  —  not  even  in  Longfel- 
low. His  ballads,  which  make  up  a  surprisingly  large 
part  of  his  work,  possess  every  requisite,  being  "  narra- 
tive in  substance,  lyrical  in  form,  traditional  in  origin," 


THE  ANTISLAVERY  LEADERS.  341 

and,  withal,  vivid  and  rapid  in  execution.  Their  sub- 
jects are  nearly  all  from  early  New  England  history  and 
tradition.  Some  of  them,  like  "  Pentucket,"  "  The  Norse- 
men," and  "The  Funeral  Tree  of  the  Sokokis,"  deal 
with  the  very  earliest  times  in  New  England;  others, 
like  "  The  Garrison  of  Cape  Ann,"  "  Cobbler  Keezar's 
Vision,"  and  "  The  Double-headed  Snake  of  Newbury," 
touch  upon  the  popular  superstitions  of  the  early  days. 
In  "Cassandra  Southwick,"  "The  Exiles,"  "The  King's 
Missive,"  "How  the  Women  Went  from  Dover,"  and 
many  others,  the  poet  chose  a  subject  very  near  his 
heart,  —  the  early  persecutions  of  the  Quakers;  while 
in  many  more,  like  "  Mary  Garvin,"  "  John  Underbill," 
"The  Witch's  Daughter,"  "The  Prophecy  of  Samuel 
Sewall,"  "Parson  A  very 's  Swan  Song,"  " The  Palatine," 
"Abraham  Davenport,"  and  "Amy  Wentworth,"  he 
dealt  with  the  varied  scenes  and  incidents  of  early 
Puritan  life.  So  thoroughly  did  Whittier  weave  into 
these  ballads  the  life  and  episodes  of  Colonial  days  that 
from  them  might  be  constructed  almost  a  complete  out- 
line of  early  New  England  history. 

REQUIRED  READING.  — "  The  Funeral  Tree  of  the  Sokokis," 
"  Cassandra  Southwick,"  "  The  Witch's  Daughter,"  "  Abraham 
Davenport." 

3.  Nature  Lyrics.  —  (See  Burroughs'  "  Nature  and  the 
Poets  "  in  Pepacton.)  As  a  poet  of  nature  Whittier  is 
surpassed  only  by  Bryant.  All  of  his  New  England 
poems  are  full  of  touches  which  show  his  deep  love  for 
the  mountains  and  woods  and  fields.  He  loved  the  very 
soil  of  his  native  valley  and  he  made  of  it  classic. 


342  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

ground.  The  Merrimac  was  to  him  what  the  Afton 
was  to  Burns,  and  what  the  Wye  and  the  Duddon  were 
to  Wordsworth.  It  ripples  through  many  of  his  sweetest 
poems.  The  mountains,  too,  whose  child  it  is,  were  also 
dear  to  Whittier's  heart.  Bryant  exulted  in  the  broad 
arches  of  the  forest,  and  in  the  vast  sweep  of  the  prai- 
ries, but  Whittier  delighted  in  the  mountains  with  their 
varied  moods,  their  shifting  lights  and  shadows,  their 
"cloudy  mantles,"  and  their  vast  forms  "against  the 
blue  walls  of  the  sky."  By  a  comparatively  few  exqui- 
site lyrics  he  made  himself  the  acknowledged  laureate  of 
the  White  Hills  of  NCAV  England,  as  Hawthorne  is  their 
romancer  and  Starr  King  their  historian.  Whittier  has 
also,  like  Longfellow,  sung  surpassingly  well  of  the 
Northern  Atlantic  coast,  as  was  befitting  a  poet  who 
in  childhood  during  nights  of  storm 

"heard  the  roar 
Of  ocean  on  his  wintry  shore," 

and  like  Bryant  he  could  paint  with  true  tints  the  North- 
ern Indian  Summer.  There  are  few  autumn  pictures  in 
our  literature  more  perfect  than  the  prelude  to  "  Among 
the  Hills,"  "  The  Lumbermen,"  "  The  Huskers,"  "  The 
Corn  Song,"  and  "  The  Pumpkin." 

"  Whittier's  poems  of  Nature  are  characterized  by  poetic  ele- 
ments which  are  not  common  among  descriptive  poets.  They  are 
not  enumerative,  like  the  landscapes  that  form  the  backgrounds  of 
Scott's  metrical  romances,  but  suggestive ;  for  though  there  is  an 
abundance  of  form  and  color  in  them,  their  value  does  not  depend 
upon  these  qualities  so  much  as  upon  the  luminous  atmosphere  in 
which  they  are  steeped.  They  are  more  than  picturesque,  in  that 


THE  ANTISLAVERY  LEADERS.  343 

they  reveal  the  personality  of  their  painter  —  a  personality  that, 
changing  with  the  moods  they  awaken,  is  always  tender  and 
thoughtful,  grateful  for  the  glimpses  of  loveliness  they  disclose, 
and  consoled  with  the  spiritual  truth  they  teach." — Stoddard. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "  The  Merrimac,"  "  Our  River,"  "  Moun- 
tain Pictures,"  "  Sunset  on  Bearcamp,"  Prelude  to  "  Among  the 
Hills,"  «  The  Tent  on  the  Beach,"  "Hampton  Beach,"  «  The  Lum- 
bermen," "  The  Corn  Song." 

Whittier's  Rank. —  (Stedman,  Ch.  IV.;  Richardson, 
II.,  173-186.)  Whittier's  rank  as  a  poet  must  depend 
more  and  more  upon  his  lyrical  studies  of  his  native  New 
England.  His  songs  of  freedom,  notwithstanding  their 
vigor,  are  constantly  losing  their  interest  as  the  great 
events,  of  which  they  are  a  part,  fade  into  the  past ;  but 
his  idyls  and  songs  of  humble  life  are  as  secure  in  their 
immortality  as  are  those  of  Burns.  Whittier  won  his 
place  among  American  poets  not  in  spite  of  his  want  of 
early  culture,  but  rather  on  account  of  it.  A  broad  edu- 
cation would  have  smoothed  and  refined  his  verses,  but 
it  would  also  have  taken  away  much  of  the  simple 
idyllic  beauty  which  is  now  their  chief  charm.  His 
were  "native  wood-notes  wild,"  often  crude  in  form, 
awkward  in  rhyme,  and  homely  in  thought,  but  never- 
theless intensely  original  and  sincere.  He  was  near  the 
soil,  he  knew  by  heart  the  "  simple  annals  "  of  humble 
life,  and  he  poured  out  without  a  thought  of  books  the 
songs  that  came  to  his  lips.  Thus,  though  he  covered 
minutely  only  one  section,  he  is  recognized  both  at  home 
and  abroad  as  the  most  national  of  our  poets,  a  singer 
distinctively  a  product  of  American  soil. 

Whittier  never  married.      After   the   death   of  his 


344  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

mother  he  made  his  home  with  his  sister  Elizabeth, 
a  rare  woman,  who,  herself  a  poet,  was  thoroughly  in 
sympathy  with  his  work.  After  her  death,  in  1864,  he 
lived  for  the  rest  of  his  life  with  relatives  at  Amesbury, 
and  at  Danvers,  Massachusetts.  He  died  Sept.  7,  1892, 
the  last,  save  Holmes,  of  the  great  singers  of  the 
Augustan  period  of  American  literature. 


XXIV. 

THE  DIFFUSIVE  PERIOD. 

1861 . 

FROM  THE  CIVIL  WAR  TO  THE  PRESENT  TIME. 

ALTHOUGH  the  Civil  War  closed,  in  all  its  phases,  the 
great  intellectual  and  humanitarian  movement  that  was 
the  distinctive  feature  of  the  second  creative  period, 
and  although  it  made  a  violent  break  in  American  civil 
history,  it,  nevertheless,  made  no  sudden  change  in  the 
character  of  the  literary  product,  or  in  the  centres  of 
literary  production.  The  date  1861  is  chosen  as  the 
close  of  the  period  simply  for  convenience.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  the  second  creative  period,  which  had  an 
unmistakable  individuality,  ended  at  some  time  long 
before  the  close  of  the  century.  The  sharply  defined 
group  of  which  Emerson,  Hawthorne,  Longfellow, 
Whittier,  Holmes,  and  Lowell  were  the  leaders,  all, 
save  Poe  and  Prescott,  lived  to  see  the  Civil  War, 
and  many  lived  and  wrote  until  late  in  the  century; 
but  in  1895  only  Mrs.  Stowe  and  a  few  minor  writers 
remained.  Then,  too,  the  more  prominent  writers  of 
the  present  day  had  achieved  literary  distinction  long 
before  the  war  opened.  It  being,  therefore,  impossible 
to  determine  the  exact  limits  of  the  period,  the  year 

345 


346  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

1861,  which  marks  a  notable  epoch  in  the  development  of 
the  American  spirit,  has  usually  been  chosen  as  its  close. 
Songs  and  Lyrics  of  the  War.  —  The  chief  literary 
results  of  the  war  were  a  few  notable  martial  lyrics, 
composed  for  the  most  part  during  the  heat  of  the 
struggle,  and  the  orations  and  addresses  of  Abraham 
Lincoln.  The  fame  of  several  poets  rests  almost 
wholly  on  their  war  poems.  Among  such  may  be 
mentioned  HENRY  HOWARD  BROWNELL  (1820-1872), 
called  by  Holmes  "Our  Battle  Laureate,"  who  wrote, 
from  the  full  knowledge  of  a  participator,  two  stirring 
poems,  — "  The  Bay  Fight,"  describing  the  battle  of 
Mobile  Bay,  and  "The  River  Fight,"  describing  the 
passage  of  the  forts  near  New  Orleans ;  and  FOR- 
CEYTHE  WILSON  (1837-1867),  whose  "  The  Old  Ser- 
geant "  was  at  one  time  wonderfully  popular.  In  the 
same  connection  may  be  mentioned  JULIA  WARD 
HOWE  (b.  1819),  who,  although  she  has  published 
several  books  of  verse  and  an  appreciative  Life  of 
Margaret  Fuller,  will  be  remembered  chiefly  on  account 
of  her  "  Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic."  A  few  other 
famous  lyrics  of  the  war,  like  Whittier's  "  Barbara 
Frietchie,"  T.  B.  Read's  "  Sheridan's  Ride,"  Stedman's 
"  Cavalry  Song,"  Francis  M.  Finch's  "  The  Blue  and 
the  Gray,"  and  the  anonymous  "The  Confederate 
Flag,"  pronounced  by  Richardson  to  be  "the  gem  of 
the  Southern  poetry  of  the  Civil  War,"  deserve  a 
passing  mention.  Of  songs,  too,  those  genuine  bits  of 
passion  that  burst  from  the  heart  of  every  great  war, 
the  civil  struggle,  like  the  Revolution,  produced  its 


THE  DIFFUSIVE  PERIOD.  347 

full  share.  In  the  North,  George  Frederick  Root 
with  his  "Battle  Cry  of  Freedom"  and  "Tramp, 
Tramp,  Tramp,  the  Boys  are  Marching,"  and  Walter 
Kittredge  with  his  "  Tenting  on  the  Old  Camp 
Ground,"  furnished  song  arid  words  for  the  men  at 
the  front ;  while  in  the  South,  James  R.  Randall  with 
"  Maryland,  my  Maryland,"  called  by  one  writer  "  the 
Marseillaise  of  the  Confederate  cause,"  and  Albert  Pike 
with  "  Dixie,"  fired  with  zeal  the  Confederate  heart. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  (1809-1865).  —  (See  Lowell's 
My  Study  Windows.)  In  prose  the  chief  productions 
inspired  by  the  war  were,  without  question,  two  or 
three  addresses  delivered  by  President  Lincoln.  His 
address  at  the  dedication  of  the  National  Cemetery 
on  the  battlefield  of  Gettysburg,  Nov.  19,  1863, 
and  his  second  inaugural  address,  delivered  March  4, 
1865,  stand  with  the  great  orations  of  the  century. 
"  A  man  of  humble  birth  and  ungainly  manners,  of 
little  culture  beyond  what  his  own  genius  supplied," 
Lincoln  was,  in  the  words  of  Lowell,  "  the  wisest 
statesman  and  most  pregnant  speaker  of  [his]  genera- 
tion." His  oratory  is  in  marked  contrast  with  that 
of  Webster  and  Everett  and  the  early  school  of  ora- 
tors; it  has  no  studied  periods  and  elaborately  wrought 
climaxes ;  it  has  little  of  ornament  or  of  inspiration ;  it 
is  simply  the  words  of  a  man  whose  heart  was  deeply 
stirred,  who,  speaking  as  Whittier  sang,  without  a 
thought  of  art  or  of  effect,  poured  out  words  that 
are  unsurpassed  in  simple  beauty,  dignity,  and  even 
grandeur.  Emerson,  in  his  essay  on  "  Eloquence," 


348  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

wrote :  "  I  believe  it  to  be  true  that  when  any  orator 
at  the  bar  or  in  the  Senate  rises  in  his  thought  he 
descends  in  his  language,  that  is,  when  he  rises  to 
any  height  of  thought  or  passion,  he  comes  down  to 
a  language  level  with  the  ear  of  all  his  audience.  It 
is  the  merit  of  John  Brown  and  of  Abraham  Lincoln 
—  one  at  Charlestown,  one  at  Gettysburg  —  in  the 
two  best  specimens  of  eloquence  we  have  had  in  this 
country." 

Lincoln's  orations  are  short  when  compared  with 
the  labored  efforts  of  a  Webster  or  a  Choate,  and 
they  were  not  written  with  literary  intent,  yet  few 
productions  in  American  literature  are  more  certain 
of  immortality. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Lincoln's  Gettysburg  Address,  and  his 
second  Inaugural  Address. 

Histories  of  the  War. — Since  the  close  of  the  war 
numerous  histories  of  the  struggle  have  been  written. 
For  the  Northern  side  the  story  has  been  told  by 
Horace  Greeley,  John  W.  Draper,  Benson  J.  Lossing, 
and  Vice-President  Wilson;  on  the  Southern  side  by 
Jefferson  Davis,  A.  H.  Stephens,  and  E.  A.  Pollard,  but 
none  of  the  histories  is  by  any  means  a  final  one.  The 
authors  were  too  near  the  epoch  described  and  too  much 
influenced  by  bitter  memories  and  prejudices.  The 
final  history  of  the  struggle  will  not  be  possible  for  a 
century  at  least.  Its  historian,  however,  will  find  a 
wonderful  mass  of  material  awaiting  his  hand.  Frank 
Moore's  Rebellion  Record,  a  collection  of  facts  and  doc- 
uments on  a  vast  scale ;  the  Memoirs  of  Grant,  Sher- 


DIFFUSIVE  PERIOD.  340 

man,  Sheridan,  and  other  generals ;  Nicolay  and  Hay's 
exhaustive  Life  of  Lincoln,  —  one  of  the  best  biogra- 
phies of  the  century,  —  and  the  histories  that  have  been 
published  of  numerous  regiments  and  divisions,  form  a 
mass  of  raw  material  such  as  few  historians  of  any 
epoch  have  ever  had  at  command. 

The  Diffusive  Period. — The  years  since  the  war  are 
too  near  for  perfect  perspective.  The  candle  held  in 
hand  seems  as  powerful  as  the  Drummond  light  in  the 
distance,  and  the  same  principle  holds  true  in  literature. 
Time  is  the  only  infallible  critic.  Poe's  Literati  and 
Griswold's  Poets  of  America  are  monuments  to  the 
worthlessness  of  contemporary  criticism,  and  with  such 
monuments  in  view  it  behooves  the  literary  historian  to 
move  carefully,  to  be  blinded  by  no  contemporary  fame, 
however  brilliant,  and  to  beware  of  prophecy  however 
alluring  the  temptation.  The  literary  history  of  the 
past  thirty  years,  however  voluminous  it  may  be  in  the 
works  of  a  century  hence,  as  written  to-day  must  neces- 
sarily be  brief.  In  writing  it  we  have  attempted  to  deal 
only  with  writers  whose  place  has  become  somewhat 
established,  and  with  books  that  have  survived  the 
ordeal  of  at  least  a  decade. 

What  the  critics  of  a  century  hence  will  determine 
upon  as  the  dominating  characteristic  of  the  present 
period  can  only  be  conjectured,  but  as  viewed  from  a 
contemporary  standpoint  it  seems  a  period  of  diffusion. 
The  vastness  and  variety  of  the  literary  product  at  the 
present  time  almost  exceed  belief.  Books  and  maga- 
zines on  every  topic  and  in  every  tongue  pour  in  floods 


350  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

from  the  press.  "  Tones  and  tendencies "  all  seem 
toward  confusion.  American  literature  is  no  longer 
local  either  in  spirit  or  in  place  of  production.  While 
Boston  has  not  lost  any  of  her  old  literary  spirit,  New 
York,  having  surpassed  her  through  mere  size  and  mere 
superiority  of  numbers,  is  now  the  chief  literary  centre. 
Literature  has  become  a  commodity,  and  New  York  is 
the  commercial  metropolis  of  America.  And  yet  litera- 
ture is  by  no  means  confined  to  New  York.  Every  city 
across  the  Continent  is  now  a  literary  centre  ;  the  books 
that  overrun  the  news-stands  reflect  the  hues  of  every 
soil. 

Amid  all  this  host  of  book-makers  there  is  none  that 
measures  up  to  the  stature  of  Longfellow  and  Haw- 
thorne, and  the  other  leaders  of  the  early  school.  It  is  ^ 
a  period  of  minor  poets  and  novelists.  The  spirit  of 
the  age  is  materialistic  rather  than  idealistic.  The  vast 
strides  in  science,  invention,  and  enterprise  have  reacted 
on  the  literary  product.  Novels  and  poems,  having 
become  mere  commercial  commodities,  are  now  manu- 
factured in  cold  blood  at  specified  times,  at  specified 
rates,  and  while  fierce  competition  has  greatly  raised 
the  standard  of  mere  literary  art,  it  has  not  breathed 
into  the  product  that  indefinable  something,  the  presence 
of  which  makes  a  work  immortal. 

The  writings  of  the  period  may  be  considered  under 
three  heads:  1.  The  Later  Poets;  2.  The  Later  Novel- 
ists ;  and  3.  Miscellaneous  Writers. 


XXV. 

THE  LATER  POETS. 
I.  THE  NEW  YORK  GROUP. 

DURING  the  middle  years  of  the  century,  while  the 
powerful  voices  of  Emerson,  Longfellow,  Whittier, 
Holmes,  and  Lowell  were  leading  the  chorus  of  New 
England  song,  a  secondary  group  of  younger  singers, 
many  of  them  natives  of  the  Middle  States,  gathered 
in  New  York  City  about  the  stalwart  figure  of  Bayard  - 
Taylor.  The  movement  was  a  significant  one.  As  the 
poets  of  the  older  school  became  silent,  one  by  one,  the 
less  powerful  voices  of  Taylor  and  Whitman,  and  of 
the  little  transplanted  group  of  New  England  singers, 
—  Stoddard,  Stedman,  and  Aldrich, — began  more  and 
more  to  be  heard,  until  New  York  in  time  became  the  * 
poetical  centre,  and  these  poets  the  leaders  of  Ameri- 
can song. 

Among  the  older  members  of  the  group  were  the  four 
Pennsylvanians, — Read,  Boker,  Leland,  and  Taylor.  Of 
these  THOMAS  BUCHANAN  READ  (1822-1872),  a  land- 
scape painter  of  high  rank,  is  remembered  in  literature 
chiefly  from  his  spirited  lyric,  "  Sheridan's  Ride,"  and 
his  "  Closing  Scene,"  a  poem  about  which  clings  all  the 
melancholy  beauty  of  the  Indian  Summer,  which  it  de- 
scribes, GEORGE  HENRY  BOKER  (1823-1890)  is  almost 

361 


352  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

the  only  American  who  has  succeeded  with  that  most  diffi- 
cult of  literary  productions,  the  drama.  His  Calynos, 
Anne  Boleyn,  and  Francesco,  da  Rimini  possess  the  rarely 
combined  merits  of  stage  adaptability  and  high  literary 
art.  Boker's  lyrical  work  is  marked  by  a  sweetness  of 
verbal  melody  and  a  lilting,  tripping  movement  very 
pleasing  to  the  popular  ear.  Such  songs  as  "  The  Lan- 
cer's Song"  and  the  "  Dirge  of  a  Sailor,"  and  such  lyrics 
as  "  On  Board  the  Cumberland,"  "A  Ballad  of  Sir  John 
Franklin,"  and  "  The  Ivory  Carver  "  show  a  power  over 
words  and  an  intensity  of  imagination  rare  indeed  among 
American  poets.  CHARLES  GODFREY  LELAND  (1824- 
1903),  although  the  author  of  several  books  on  the  Gipsy 
race  and  language,  concerning  which  he  was  the  stand- 
ard authority,  is  best  known  from  his  Hans  Breitman 
Ballads  written  in  the  American-German  dialect.  His 
"  Hans  Breitman  gif  a  Barty,"  the  opening  poem  of  this 
collection,  had  a  marvellous  popularity. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Read's  "  The  Closing  Scene  "  ;  Boker's 
"  The  Dirge  of  a  Sailor  "  and  "  The  Ivory  Carver  "  ;  Leland's 
"  Hans  Preitman  gif  a  Barty." 

I.  BAYARD  TAYLOR  (1825-1878). 

Life  (by  Taylor  and  Scudder,  and  by  Smyth, 
American  Men  of  Letters  Series).  In  Bayard  Taylor 
we  find  for  the  first  time  an  American  poet  of 
high  rank  whose  genius  was  nurtured  and  developed 
outside  of  the  New  England  environment.  He  stands 
as  a  strong  evidence  for  the  statement  made  earlier  in 
the  work  that  the  Pennsylvania  Quakers  differed  but 


THE  LATER  POETS.  353 

little,  either  in  spirit  or  in  surroundings,  from  their 
Puritan  neighbors  and  persecutors.  (See  p.  53.£  An 
interesting  parallel  might  be  drawn  between  Taylor 
and  Whittier.  Both  came  from  humble  Quaker  homes, 
both  passed  their  early  years  in  the  dreary  round  of 
farm  life,  and  both,  revolting  in  early  manhood  from 
the  ancestral  career,  secured  a  meagre  education  and 
entered  upon  journalism  as  a  life-work.  But  a  spirit 
of  wandering,  of  which  Whittier  had  not  a  trace,  was 
upjn  Taylor,  to  drive  his  life  into  channels  widely  dif- 
ferent from  those  chosen  by  the  elder  poet. 

Taylor's  boyhood  visions  of  European  travel  were 
realized  before  he  had  completed  his  nineteenth  year. 
By  the  aid  of  a  few  dollars  earned  by  the  publication 
of  a  thin  volume  of  youthful  verse  entitled  Ximena, 
and  circulated  among  his  friends,  the  young  printing- 
office  apprentice  was  enabled  to  visit  New  York  where, 
with  letters  from  Griswold,  who  had  taken  a  fancy  to 
some  verses  contributed  to  Graham's  Magazine,  he 
obtained  aid  and  encouragement  from  Willis,  Horace 
Greeley,  and  others.  With  scarce  one  hundred  and 
forty  dollars  in  money  and  the  promise  of  scanty  com- 
pensation for  letters  written  from  Europe,  Taylor  began 
his  wanderings.  During  the  two  years  that  he  was 
abroad  he  "travelled  on  foot,"  according  to  his  own 
statement,  "  upwards  of  three  thousand  miles  in  Ger- 
many, Switzerland,  Italy,  and  France."  The  strictness 
of  his  economy  during  this  time  may  be  judged  from  the 
fact  that  the  entire  journey  cost  less  than  five  hundred 
dollars,  nearly  all  of  which  was  earned  upon  the  road. 


354  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Views  Afoot,  a  classic  among  books  of  travel,  appeared 
in  1846.  Its  charm  lies  in  its  freshness  and  novelty. 
Taylor,  like  Irving  and  Willis  and  Longfellow,  had 
approached  Europe  with  a  feeling  almost  of  reverence. 
To  the  youthful  eyes  of  all  these  writers  everything 
was  new  and  full  of  intense  and  romantic  interest. 
A  holiday  spirit  and  the  zeal  and  zest  of  youth  breathe 
alike  f rona  Irving's  early  English  sketches,  from  Pencil- 
lings  by  the  Way,  Outre  Mer,  and  Views  Afoot.  All  are 
records  of  poetical  pilgrimages,  but  none  is  more  poeti- 
cal than  Views  Afoot.  All  of  Taylor's  descriptions  are 
full  of  poetic  touches.  The  cliffs  at  Fairhead  were  to 
him  like  "  Niagara  Falls  petrified  " ;  "  the  white  houses 
of  Gmunden  sank  down  to  the  water's  edge  like  a  flock 
of  ducks,"  and  the  valley  of  the  Arno  was  to  him  "a 
vast  sea,  for  a  dense  blue  mist  covered  the  level  sur- 
face through  which  the  domes  of  Florence  rose  up  like 
a  craggy  island,  while  the  thousands  of  scattered  villas 
resembled  ships,  with  spread  sails,  afloat  on  its  surface." 
The  book  is  a  gallery  of  pictures  of  familiar  and  unfamil- 
iar Europe.  In  his  wanderings  on  foot  from  city  to  city 
through  the  "by-ways  of  Europe,"  Taylor  saw  much 
that  the  average  tourist,  following  the  beaten  track, 
never  encounters.  His  book  became  instantly  popular ; 
it  carried  Taylor's  name  everywhere  and  placed  him  at 
the  head  of  the  younger  writers  of  the  metropolis. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Views  Afoot,  Ch.  I.  "The  Voyage" 
(compare  with  Irving's  Essay  in  The  Sketch  Book}]  Ch.  VI.  "Some 
of  the  «  Sights  '  of  London  "  (compare  with  Irving's  "  Westminster 
Abbey");  Ch.  XXII.  "Vienna";  Ch.  XL.  "Rome";  Ch.  XL VI. 
*  A  Glimpse  of  Normandy." 


THE  LATER  POETS.  355 

His  Travels.  —  Taylor,  like  Ulysses,  has 

"  become  a  name 
For  always  wandering  with  a  hungry  heart." 

Scarcely  was  he  settled  in  his  new  field  of  labor  in  New 
York  City  when  he  was  sent  by  The  Tribune  to  the 
newly  discovered  gold  fields  of  California.  1346.    views 
Two  years  later  he  started  on  a  journey 


of  fifty  thousand  miles  through  Egypt  and  rado- 

„  -,     A,.          T     ,.        ™.  1854.    AJour- 

Central  Africa,  India,  China,  and  Japan,  ney  to  Central 


In  1856,  he  visited  Sweden,  Norway,  and  ilThe 

Lapland.     He  was  secretary  of   Legation  saracens.the 

in    Russia   in    1862,   and   was    American  1855.   A  visit 

.  f  i  •      *,       *  to  India,  China, 

minister  at  Berlin  at  the  time  of  his  death  and  Japan. 

.      -iQrTQ  1858.    Northern 

in  1878.  Travel. 


All  of  Taylor's  journeyings  were  poeti- 
cal  pilgrimages.    His  later  books  of  travel,  Rome- 

1859-1862.    At 

while  less  exuberant  and  less  romantic  than  Home  and 
Views  Afoot,  are,  nevertheless,  the  jour-  1867    Colorado. 
nals  of  a  poet  on  his  wanderings.     Their  !86|.    By-ways 
style  is  simple  and  straightforward,  yet  it  1872.    Travels 

,  ,  J  ,  ,  ,        in  Arabia. 

communicates  by  some  subtle  process  the  1874>   Egypt 
author's  boundless  enthusiasm  and  his  de-  andlceland- 
light  in  strange  scenes  and  adventures.     Taylor  is  an 
ideal  travelling  companion.     He  knows  what  is  worth 
seeing  and  he  enlivens  the  way  with  tale  and  jest  and 
merry  song. 

As  a  Poet.  —  But  the  passion  and  dream  of  Taylor's 
life  was  poetry.  His  widespread  fame  as  a  wanderer 
rather  annoyed  than  pleased  him,  and  the  flood  of  prose 


356  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

that  flowed  for  years  from  his  tireless  pen  was  regarded 
by  him  only  as  a  means  of  support.  His  one  literary  am- 
bition was  to  reach  the  heights  of  poesy,  to  be  numbered 
among  the  great  bards  of  the  world,  and  he  all  but 
attained  to  his  exalted  ideal.  His  first  poetic  period, 
like  that  of  most  poets,  was  distinctively  lyrical.  He 
wrote,  in  every  key  and  in  every  measure,  lyrics  that 
in  coloring  and  theme  are  cosmopolitan.  Few  poets 
of  any  land  have  gathered  sweets  from  fields  more 
numerous  and  diverse.  One  can  trace  his  trail  from 
his  first  journey  to  his  last  by  the  lyrics  that  he  dropped 
at  frequent  intervals.  In  his  maturer  years,  having 
wandered  in  all  lands,  and  having  "drunk  life  to  the 
lees,"  he  returned  to  where  life  began;  wrote  sweet 
idyls  and  pastorals  of  his  native  state,  and  from  his 
rich  experience  attempted,  what  he  meant  should  be 
his  master  works,  odes  and  dramatic  poems  with  themes 
of  the  loftiest  kind.  But  he  had  misjudged  his  powers. 
The  poems  which  are  the  ripe  fruit  of  his  life  and  on 
which  he  staked  his  fame  as  a  poet,  while  they  are 
noble  additions  to  the  literature  of  the  world,  lack  the 
crowning  touch  that  makes  a  work  immortal.  None 
realized  this  better  than  Taylor  himself,  and  he  died, 
his  friends  tell  us,  a  disappointed  man.  It  was  his  fate 
to  come  within  sight  of  the  land  of  immortality  and  yet 
be  doomed  never  to  enter  its  bounds. 

Romances   and   Lyrics.  —  During  the  purely  lyrical 
period   of   Taylor's  life  he  produced   his 

Rhymes  of  J 

Travel,  Ballads    most  characteristic  and  pleasing  work.     In 

and  other 

Poems,   1848.      a  few  of  his  earlier  lyrics,  like  "  Moan,  ye 


THE  LATER  POETS.  357 

Wild  Winds,"  written  after  the  death  of  ^  Book  of 

Romances, 

the  wife  of  his  youth,  "  Metempsychosis  of  Lyrics  and 

J  *  J  Songs.    1851. 

the  Pine,"  "Hylas,"  "Proposal,"  "  Eupho-  Poemsofthe 

„         i  •      !•  -r>         ,    T»  /•  ^       Orient.    1854. 

rion,    and  in  his  magnificent  Poems  of  the   The  Poet>s 
Orient,  he  reached  poetic  heights  that  have  Journal-   1862- 
been  seldom  attained  by  American  lyrists.     The  most     u)«^ 
remarkable  series  of  his  lyrics  is,  perhaps his^J^gms^of^ 
the  Orient,  poured  out  in  rapid  succession  during  his 
months  in  Egypt,  Syria,  and  the  far  East.     Taylor  was 
indeed  "a  western  Asiatic."     Beneath  his  new-world 
exterior  he  had 

"  The  rich,  voluptuous  soul  of  Eastern  land, 
Impassioned,  tender,  calm,  serenely  sad." 

He  caught  at  once  the  true  spirit  of  the  Orient,  —  its 
languorous  beauty,  its  passion  and  its  dreams.  "He 
captured,"  says  Stoddard,  "the  poetic  secret  of  the  East 
as  no  English-writing  poet  but  Byron  has."  His  passion- 
ate "Bedouin  Song"  is  worthy  of  comparison  with  the 
best  of  Byron's  Eastern  lyrics  or  with  such  a  gem  as 
Shelley's  "  Lines  to  an  Indian  Air."  Where  in  Ameri- 
can literature  are  there  lines  so  full  of  passion  and  fire  ? 

"  From  the  Desert  I  come  to  thee 
On  a  stallion  shod  with  fire ; 
And  the  winds  are  left  behind 

In  the  speed  of  my  desire. 
Under  thy  window  I  stand, 

And  the  midnight  hears  my  cry : 
I  love  thee,  I  love  but  thee, 
With  a  love  that  shall  not  die 
Till  the  sun  grows  cold, 
And  the  stars  are  old, 
And  the  leaves  of  the  Judgment  Book  unfold!" 


358  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "Metempsychosis  of  the  Pine,"  "  Pra 
posal,"  "  Euphorion,"  "  Autumn  Pictures  "  (compare  with  Bryant's 
"  Death  of  the  Flowers  ").  From  Poems  of  the  Orient:  " The  Poet 
in  the  East,"  "Desert  Hymn  to  the  Sun,"  "Nubia,"  "Bedouin 
Song  "  (compare  with  Shelley's  "  Lines  to  an  Indian  Air  "),  "  To  a 
Persian  Boy,"  "  On  the  Sea,"  "  L'Envoi." 

Home  Pastorals  and  Ballads. — The  second  important 
division  of  Taylor's  poems  consists  of  his  Pennsylvania 
pastorals  and  idyls.  Like  Whittier,  the  poet  had  sprung 
from  the  soil,  and  though  he  wandered  under  all  suns  till 
he  became  the  most  complete  cosmopolitan  of  his  gener- 
ation, he  never  forgot  his  origin.  Again  and  again  he 
wandered  back  to  his  native  scenes,  and  at  last  he  built 
him  a  home  in  the  town  of  his  birth,  where  he  might  pass 
the  ripe  years  of  his  old  age.  His  bucolics,  like  those  in 
Home  Pastorals,  with  their  faithful  pictures  of  the  rural 
seasons,  remind  one  strongly  of  Whittier,  and  his  idyls  of 
home  life,  such  as  "The  Quaker  Widow,"  "The  Holly 
Tree,"  and  "  The  Old  Pennsylvania  Farmer,"  might 
have  been  written  by  the  New  England  "  Quaker 
Bard."  Indeed  it  is  not  difficult  to  conceive  how 
Taylor,  had  he  been  content  to  spend  his  life  in  quiet 
amid  the  scenes  of  his  youth,  might  have  done  for 
Pennsylvania  what  Whittier  did  for  New  England. 

Taylor's  narrative  poem  Lars  ;  a  Pastoral  of  Norway, 
his  most  carefully  wrought  and  symmetrical  production, 
has  in  it  a  strength  and  sweetness  that  make  it  worthy 
of  comparison  with  Longfellow's  Evangeline. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "  August."  (Note  autobiographical 
touches.)  "The  Quaker  Widow,"  "The  Old  Pennsylvania 
Farmer." 


THE  LATER  POETS.  359 

Last  Poems.  —  During  the  last  years  of  his  life 
Taylor  composed  four  notable  dramatic  poems.  No 
American  poet  has  attempted  themes  more 

,  The  Picture  of 

lofty.     Into  these  works  Taylor  threw  all  St.  John.  i&>9. 


of  his  broad  culture  and  experience;   his 
knowledge  of  humanity,  and  his  mastery    The  Prophet: 
of    literary   art.      They   are   the    highest  1874. 

»    .  ,        A  .  .     -,  .      .  ,     .      Prince  Deuka- 

expressions  of  the  American  mind  in  their  uon  .-  a  Lyrical 

department,  which  is  that  of  the  "loftiest 

or  religious  division  of  the  drama,  the  highest  form  of 

literature." 

His  Versatility.  —  In  the  extent  and  variety  of  his 
powers  Taylor  resembled  Holmes.  He  entered  almost 
every  field  of  literary  production  and  always  with  credit. 
He  wrote  four  novels  :  Hannah  Thurston,  John  Grod- 
frey's  Fortune,  The  Story  of  Kennett,  and  Joseph  and  his 
Friend,  —  all  of  them  valuable  additions  to  the  best  de- 
partment of  American  fiction.  The  Story  of  Kennet, 
"  a  true  idyl  of  Pennsylvania  country  life  in  the  early 
prime,"  is  its  author's  best  prose  work.  He  also  won 
laurels  as  a  translator,  his  version  of  Goethe's  Faust, 
made  in  the  original  metres,  being  universally  con- 
sidered the  best  English  translation  of  that  great  drama. 

Taylor's  mind  was  retentive  and  electric.  "  Nothing 
that  he  learned,"  says  his  friend  Stedman,  "  was  for- 
gotten, and  he  learned  without  effort.  After  a  single 
reading  he  knew  a  poem  by  heart,  and  he  could  repeat 
whole  pages  of  his  favorite  authors  ;  and  there  was  little 
that  he  did  not  read  or  see."  His  industry  was  tireless. 
Notwithstanding  his  extensive  travels,  his  endless  "hack 


360  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

work  "  as  a  member  of  the  staff  of  a  city  daily,  his  almost 
nightly  lectures,  he  found  time  during  his  literary  life 
of  thirty-four  years  to  write  thirty-seven  volumes.  No 
constitution  could  long  endure  such  a  draft  upon  it. 
He  died  of  overwork  in  the  prime  of  his  years  and  the 
fulness  of  his  powers. 

His  Character  and  Rank.  —  (Stedman,  396-434 ;  Rich- 
ardson, L,  439-441,  II.,  246-248.)  Taylor,  like  Longfel- 
low and  Whittier,  was  a  poet  whose  life  and  character 
were  as  sweet  as  his  songs.  "  To  think  of  him,"  says 
Stedman,  "is  to  recall  a  person  larger  in  make  and 
magnanimity  than  the  common  sort;  a  man  of  buoy- 
ancy, hopefulness,  sweetness  of  temper,  loyal,  shrinking 
from  contention,  yet  ready  to  do  battle  for  a  principle 
or  in  the  just  cause  of  a  friend ;  stainless  in  morals,  and 
of  an  honesty  so  natural  that  he  could  not  be  surprised 
into  an  untruth  or  the  commission  of  a  mean  act." 

As  a  poet  he  stands  without  question  at  the  head 
of  the  later  school  of  lyrists,  and  he  ranks  only  a  little 
below  the  four  great  poets  of  the  Golden  Age  of  Ameri- 
can song. 

2.     RICHARD  HENRY  STODDARD  (1825-1903). 

Intimately  connected  with  the  name  of  Bayard  Taylor 
is  that  of  his  life-long  friend,  R.  H.  Stoddard.  The  two 
Songs  of  Sum-  names  go  as  naturally  together  as  those  of 

mer.    1856.  J       8 

Life  of  Hum-      Drake  and  Halleck.     Born  the  same  year, 

boldt  (prose).        .          .  .  . 

1860.  in  widely  dirtenng  environments,  they  nrst 

Bell/'   1862!       met  each  other  in  1848,  when  both  were 


THE  LATER  POETS.  361 

struggling  for  literary  recognition  in  the  Abraham  Lin- 

,   ,_         ^     ,  coin;  an  Hora- 

then  unliterary  atmosphere  of  New  York,  tian  Ode.   1865. 


and  from  this  time  they  became   an  un- 

J  Brave.    1869. 

told  strength   to   each    other.      Stoddard   The  Book  of  the 
had  come  from  Hingham,  Massachusetts,  Ea8t'   1869> 

,,.       i  .-•  -M         i       •  i  -       Under  the  Even- 

where  he  had  passed  his  childhood  within  ing  Lamp 
sound  of  the  sea,  whose  salt  was  in  his 
blood.  He  had  removed  to  New  York  in  1835,  where, 
after  a  short  school  life,  he  had  settled  down  to  the  task 
of  bread-winning  by  the  hardest  of  physical  toil.  Dur- 
ing the  early  years  of  his  friendship  with  Taylor,  he 
passed  his  days  in  an  iron  foundry,  and  only  once  a 
week  could  the  two  enthusiasts  find  time  to  discuss 
together  in  their  attic  rooms  their  dreams  and  enthusi- 
asms. Taylor  was  the  "intellectual  stimulant"  that 
brought  to  life  the  powers  of  the  young  iron  worker, 
who  already  burned  with  aspiration  to  be  a  poet. 
In  those  days  "  I  had  no  friend,"  declares  Stoddard, 
"except  himself,  no  companionship  but  that  of  books 
and  my  own  thoughts."  The  friendship  was  a  golden 
one  for  Taylor  also.  Despite  his  uncongenial  environ- 
ment, and  his  lack  of  a  systematic  education,  Stoddard 
had  managed  to  read  widely  and  well  ;  he  was  already 
a  master  of  poetical  technique,  an  authority  on  the 
English  poets,  and  a  judge  of  poetic  merit,  whose 
decisions  were  seldom  at  fault.  The  two  poets  were 
complements  of  each  other  ;  what  one  lacked  the  other 
could  supply.  Taylor,  in  his  "  Proem  Dedicatory  "  to 
Poems  of  the  Orient  has  exquisitely  described  the 
domain  held  in  fee  by  each: 


362  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

"  You  strain  your  ears  to  catch  the  harmonies 

That  in  some  finer  region  have  their  birth ; 
I  turn,  despairing,  from  pursuit  of  these, 

And  seek  to  learn  the  native  tongue  of  Earth. 
In  « Fancy's  tropic  clime  '  your  castle  stands, 

A  shining  miracle  of  rarest  art ; 
I  pitch  my  tent  upon  the  naked  sands, 
And  the  tall  palm,  that  plumes  the  orient  lands, 

Can  with  its  beauty  satisfy  my  heart." 

Stoddard's  first  volume  of  poems  appeared  in  1849. 
He  succeeded  in  selling  one  copy,  after  which  he  de- 
stroyed the  rest  of  the  edition.  During  the  same  year 
he  was  married  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Barstow,  a  poet 
and  novelist  of  more  than  ordinary  merit.  The  union 
was,  indeed,  an  ideal  one,  reminding  one,  in  its  perfect 
felicity  and  helpfulness,  of  that  between  Robert  Brown- 
ing and  Elizabeth  Barrett.  Three  years  after  his  first 
volume  Stoddard  published  another,  and  in  1856  he  put 
forth  his  Songs  of  Summer,  which  contains  much  of  his 
strongest  work,  and  which  gave  him  at  once  a  secure 
place  as  a  poet. 

From  1853  to  1870  Stoddard  found  employment  in 
the  New  York  Custom  House,  where,  like  Charles  Lamb 
in  the  East  India  House,  he  filled  volumes  with  figures, 
when  he  should  have  been  filling  other  volumes  with 
the  creations  of  his  art.  But  literature,  even  a  quarter 
of  a  century  ago,  was  safely  pursued  only  as  an  avoca- 
tion. From  1860  to  1870  he  varied  his  custom-house 
work  by  reviewing  books  for  the  New  York  World,  and 
in  the  latter  year  he  resigned  his  position  to  devote  his 
whole  time  to  literary  pursuits.  After  1880  he  was 
literary  critic  for  the  New  York  Mail  and  Express. 


THE  LATER  POETS.  363 

As  a  Poet.  —  Stoddard  belongs  to  the  purely  imagina- 
tive school.  He  had  a  passionate  love  of  the  beautiful 
that  reminds  one  of  his  early  master,  Keats.  His  poems 
are  spontaneous  and  impassioned,  yet  in  them  all  there 
is  not  a  single  inartistic  or  faulty  line.  Like  Poe  and 
Aldrich,he  ever  pruned  his  work  with  remorseless  care. 
He  had  the  rare  gift  of  being  able  to  apply  his  broad 
critical  powers  to  his  own  work  as  if  it  were  the  pro- 
duction of  another,  and  he  did  not  hesitate  many  times 
to  reject  that  which  a  less  conscientious  poet  would  have 
left  unquestioned. 

Stoddard's  poems  may.  be  divided  roughly  into  two 
groups:  his  scholarly  and  deeply  imaginative  poems, 
like  "  The  Search  for  Persephone,"  "  The  Children  of 
Isis,"  "History,"  and  "Dies  Natalis  Christi,"  and  his 
more  purely  emotional  lyrics.  It  is  from  these  heart- 
poems  that  he  is  most  widely  known  as  a  poet,  and  it 
will  be  through  them  that  he  will  longest  keep  his  name 
from  oblivion.  Lyrics  like  "The  Flight  of  Youth," 
"At  Rest,"  "Out  of  the  Deeps,"  and  "The  Dead"  find 
an  echo  in  every  heart.  "  The  King's  Bell,"  a  rhymed 
poem  of  more  than  eleven  hundred  lines,  his  longest 
poetical  effort,  is  fully  equal  to  the  best  of  Taylor's 
narrative  poems. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "Hymn  to  the  Sea,"  "An  Old  Song 
Revised,"  "  The  Flight  of  Youth,"  "  Birds,"  "  The  Two  Brides," 
"  Irreparable,"  "  At  Rest,"  "  Out  of  the  Deeps,"  "  The  Dead,'' 
"Pain  in  Autumn,"  "Up  in  the  Trees,"  "Songs  Unsung,"  and 
"The  Search  for  Persephone." 

As  a  Prose  Writer.  —  Stoddard's  numerous  prose  arti- 


364  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

cles,  which  are  scattered  through  the  magazines  and 
newspapers  of  half  a  century,  and  which  have  never 
been  collected,  consist  chiefly  of  criticism  and  literary 
biography.  His  wide  reading  in  all  fields  of  literature, 
and  his  intimate  personal  acquaintance  with  most  of  the 
men  who  have  made  American  literature,  gave  his  words 
always  a  peculiar  weight  and  authority.  His  most  faith- 
ful and  characteristic  prose  work  is,  perhaps,  his  study 
of  the  life  of  Edgar  Allan  Poe. 

3.   EDMUND    CLARENCE   STEDMAN   (1833-1908). 

Like  Stoddard,  whose  name  is  often  mentioned  with 
his,  Stedman  was  not  a  native  of  the  city  with  whose 
Poems,  Lyric  life  he  became  so  completely  identified. 
and  idyllic.  RQ  wag  bom  in  Hartford?  Connecticut,  and 

Rip  Van  Winkle  received  his  education  at  Yale.    At  the  age 

and  Jus  Wonder- 

ful Nap.   1870.  of  twenty-four,  after  having  edited  for  a 

The  Victorian        ..  .,        AT          .   ,       ~  .  .  „,  ., 

Poets.  1875.  time  the  Norwich,  Connecticut,  Tribune 
?th^rhproemsand  and  later  the  Winsted  Herald,  he  went  to 
1877-  New  York,  drawn  thither,  like  so  many  of 

Lyrics  and 

Idyls.  1879.  the  metropolitan  group  of  authors,  by  the 
ica?**i886.m  '  great  magnet,  journalism.  His  next  ten 


years  were  years  of  struggle.  He  wrote 
Poetry.  1892.  his  soui  into  poems  which  he  contributed 
to  the  magazines,  supporting  himself  meanwhile  by  work 
of  every  description  for  the  city  dailies.  In  1861  and 
1862  he  was  war  correspondent  for  the  New  York  World. 
When,  in  1860,  he  published  his  first  significant  volume, 
Poems,  Lyric  and  Idyllic,  his  name  had  already  begun 
to  be  mentioned  with  those  of  his  seniors  in  the  poetic 


THE  LATER  POETS.  365 

field,  —  Taylor  and  Boker  and  Stoddard,  —  but  his  war 
lyrics  brought  him  into  universal  notice.  So  rapidly 
did  his  fame  as  a  versatile  and  graceful  poet  increase, 
that  in  1864,  to  secure  means  and  leisure  for  independ- 
ent literary  work,  he  abandoned  journalism  and  became 
a  broker  in  Wall  Street.  The  tandem,  business  and 
literature  went  smoothly  together.  He  was  enabled  to 
purchase  an  elegant  city  home,  which  he  filled  with 
a  wealth  of  books  and  beauty,  and  which  he  soon  made 
the  literary  centre  of  New  York.  In  1883  he  lost  the 
most  of  his  wealth,  but  by  hard  work  he  afterwards 
made  good  his  losses.  During  the  last  years  of  his  life 
he  was  everywhere  recognized  as  the  most  conspicuous 
figure  in  the  best  American  literary  circles. 

As  a  Poet.  —  (Richardson,  II.,  256-265,  Vedder's 
American  Writers  of  To-day.)  Stedman,  Stoddard,  and 
Aldrich  were  the  leaders  of  what  may  be  called  the 
later  school  of  lyrists.  Their  common  characteristics 
were  their  fastidious  care  for  the  technique  of  their  art, 
their  graceful,  polished  lines,  and  their  ability  to  deal 
with  subjects  which  many  poets  would  consider  too 
trivial  or  commonplace  for  poetic  use.  Their  knowledge 
of  literature  was  deep  and  broad,  and  they  applied  their 
scholarship  and  critical  powers  to  the  improvement  of 
their  own  work.  As  a  result,  one  may  search  in  vain 
through  the  works  of  all  these  poets  for  a  single  in- 
elegant or  slovenly  line. 

Stedman,  like  Aldrich,  though  in  a  less  degree,  may 
be  called  a  poet  of  the  artificial.  He  wrote  a  few  idyls 
with  consummate  grace  and  skill,  but  his  most  char- 


366  AMERICAN  LITER  A  TURE. 

acteiistic  poems  are  those  dealing  with  various  phases 
of  artificial  life.  He  is  not  a  poet  of  nature;  he  is 
seldom  spontaneous ;  he  is,  save  at  rare  intervals,  intel- 
lectual and  self-conscious.  The  most  spontaneous  of 
his  lyrics  are  his  songs,  like  "  The  Wedding  Day,"  and 
some  of  his  more  thoughtful  and  serious  poems,  like 
"The  Undiscovered  Country"  and  "The  Discoverer." 
The  latter,  which  seems  to  me  the  loftiest  expression  of 
Stedman's  lyric  muse,  is  in  all  respects  worthy  of  a 
place  beside  Taylor's  "  Euphorion.'*  To  these  poems, 
which  ri  their  perfect  art  seem  as  artless  and  simple  as 
wild  flowers,  may  be  added  the  idyls  of  New  England 
life  inspired  by  memories  of  earlier  days.  "  The  Door- 
step "  is  worthy  of  comparison  even  with  Lowell's  "The 
Courtin' " ;  "  Country  Sleighing  "  is  a  faultless  picture, 
and  "  The  Freshet,"  "  The  Heart  of  New  England,"  and 
"  The  Lord's  Day  Gale  "  might  have  been  written  by 
Whittier.  Stedman's  strength,  however,  lies  in  what 
might  be  paradoxically  called  idyls  of  city  life.  He 
made  himself  the  laureate  of  New  York  City.  "  Peter 
Stuyvesant's  New  Year's  Call,"  in  which  the  redoubt- 
able Hollander  has  a  dream  of  his  city's  future  glory, 
"Fuit  Ilium,"  suggested  by  the  destruction  of  an  old 
colonial  mansion,  and  "  Pan  in  Wall  Street,"  "  the  one 
classic  inspiration  of  the  great  money  market,"  stand 
at  the  head  of  these  lyrics  of  the  town. 

By  far  the  greater  portion  of  Stedman's  poetical  work 
is  made  up  of  his  ballads  and  lyrics  of  the  war,  his 
poems  on  contemporary  themes,  and  his  occasional 
poems.  In  the  first  division  fall  the  pre-Rebellion 


THE  LATER  POETS.  367 

ballad,  "How  Old  Brown  Took  Harper's  Ferry,"  with 
its  ringing  stanza  of  prophecy  destined  to  be  fulfilled; 
"  Alice  of  Monmouth :  an  Idyl  of  the  Great  War,"  a 
long  poem  full  of  thrilling  pictures  of  battle,  touching 
episodes,  and  charming  descriptions  of  quiet  scenes  in 
New  Jersey  life  and  landscape;  and  several  stirring 
lyrics  like  "Fort  Sumpter,"  and  "Wanted  — A  Man." 
The  spirited  "Cavalry  Song,"  a  little  lyric  of  three 
stanzas  in  Part  IX.  of  "Alice  of  Monmouth,"  is  probably 
the  best  known  of  Stedman's  poems.  Much  of  Sted- 
man's  time  for  poetic  composition  was  spent  in  the 
construction  of  purely  ephemeral  work, — the  celebration 
of  contemporary  events  of  passing  importance.  Produc- 
tions like  "  The  Diamond  Wedding,"  a  long  poem  cele- 
brating a  brilliant  society  event,  and  "The  Prince's 
Ball,"  describing  uhe  reception  of  the  Prince  of  Wales 
by  New  York  society,  though  full  of  wit  and  satire  and 
very  popular  in  their  day,  are  now  well-nigh  forgotten. 
Among  his  occasional  poems,  which  are  many,  and  which 
cover  a  wide  range,  may  be  mentioned  "  Gettysburg," 
read  in  1871  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac,  "  The  Dartmouth  Ode,"  1873,  and  the  schol- 
arly ode,  "  Corda  Concordia,"  read  at  the  1882  session 
of  the  Concord  School  of  Philosophy.  His  long  poem 
"  Hawthorne,"  read  in  1877  before  the  Harvard  Phi  Beta 
Kappa,  may  be  taken  as  his  loftiest  and  most  sustained 
poetical  address.  Its  portrayal  of  Hawthorne's  life  and 
character  reveal  the  poet  hand  in  hand  with  the  critic. 
To  Stedman,  Hawthorne  was  "  the  one  New  Englander  * 
and  the  one  modern  portrayer  of  the  human  heart. 


368  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

**  None  save  he  in  our  own  times  so  laid 

His  summons  on  man's  spirit;  none  save  he, 

"Whether  the  light  thereof  was  clear  or  clouded, 
Thus  on  his  canvas  fixed  the  human  soul, 
The  thoughts  of  mystery, 

In  deep  hearts  by  this  mortal  guise  enshrouded 
Wild  hearts  that  like  the  church  bells  ring  and  toll." 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Early  Poems:  "In  Bohemia"  and 
"  Penelope."  (Note  the  influence  of  Tennyson's  "  Recollections  oi 
the  Arabian  Nights"  and  "Ulysses.")  Thoughtful  and  serious: 
"The  Undiscovered  Country  "and  "The  Discoverer"  (cf.  Taylor's 
"Euphorion").  Songs  and  Idyls:  "The  Wedding  Day,"  "The 
Doorstep,"  "  Country  Sleighing,"  "  The  Lord's  Day  Gale."  City 
Lyrics :  "  Peter  Stuyvesant's  New  Year's  Call,"  "  Fuit  Ilium,"  "  Pan 
in  Wall  Street."  War  Ballads  :  "  How  Old  Brown  Took  Harper's 
Ferry,"  "  Alice  of  Monmouth."  Occasional :  "  Hawthorne." 

As  a  Critic Stedman  stands  with  Lowell  at  the 

head  of  American  literary  critics.  He  chose  for  him- 
self a  difficult  field, —  the  consideration  of  what,  remem- 
bering the  long  vista  of  English  literature,  one  might 
call  the  contemporary  English- writing  poets.  No  criti- 
cism calls  for  riper  judgment,  wider  scholarship,  and 
more  complete  catholicity,  than  that  which  attempts  to 
give  absolute  values  to  contemporary  products.  That 
Stedman  succeeded  in  this  difficult  field  is  in  itself 
almost  a  complete  testimonial  to  his  powers  as  a  critic. 

The  two  volumes,  The  Victorian  Poets  and  The  Poets 
of  America,  cover  that  rich  period  of  minor  song  which 
opened  both  in  England  and  America  in  1837.  The 
reader  will  seek  long  for  more  charming  books  of  criti- 
cism. They  are  not  dry,  lifeless  estimates  of  authors 
and  books ;  they  are  in  themselves  creations,  full  of  rare 


THE  LATER  POETS. 

characterization,  subtle  analysis,  epigram,  gems  of  poetry 
from  the  best  hands.  The  reader  may  not  always  agree 
with  the  critic,  as  in  his  estimate,  for  instance,  of  Whit- 
man, but  he  cannot  fail  to  admire  the  brilliancy  of  his 
treatment  and  the  thoroughness  of  his  mastery  of  the 
subject.  The  Poets  of  America  is  by  all  means  the 
most  complete  and  scholarly  study  that  has  yet  been 
made  of  the  American  Parnassus,  and  it  is  thus  a  book 
indispensable  to  the  student  of  American  literature. 
Stedman's  third  critical  work,  The  Nature  and  Elements 
of  Poetry^  a  book  which  with  wide  horizon  and  deep 
scholarship  considers  the  best  poetical  products  of  all 
nations  and  times  and  the  laws  governing  their  pro- 
duction, is  in  its  field  one  of  the  strongest  creations 
of  the  century.  It  is  as  a  critic  rather  than  as  a 
poet  that  he  will  be  remembered.  As  the  editor  with 
George  E.  Woodberry  of  Poe's  works,  and  in  his  various 
anthologies,  he  has  done  work  that  is  truly  definitive. 

Stedman's  mind  was  retentive  and  flexible.  His  vast 
stores  of  knowledge  were  always  at  instant  command. 
His  literary  taste  was  fastidious,  his  sense  of  harmony 
delicate,  his  judgments  as  to  poetic  merit  rarely  at 
fault.  He  had  what  seems  out  of  place  in  a  critic, 
a  kindly  heart.  Few  indeed  are  the  writers  of  the 
younger  generation  who  have  not  received  from  him 
a  helping  word. 

4.   THOMAS  BAILEY  ALDRICH  (1836-1907). 

Although  a  native  of  New  Hampshire,  born  and  reared 
in  the  old  seaport  town  of  Portsmouth  and  although 
ia 


370  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

"Pampinea."      from    1866    until    his    death    a    resident 

"t  ftf-i"l 

Cloth  of  Gold.      °f  Boston,  Aldrich   is   always  mentioned 
with  Taylor  and  Stoddard  and  Stedman. 

Floioer  of  Gold.  J 

During   his   residence   in  New   York,  he 

"Friar  Jerome's   ,  1,1  ,  P    t,  - 

Beautiful  became  so  completely  a   member  of   this 

Book."     1881.       ,.,  ,,  r  ,          ..  11. 

Out  of  his  Head.  llttle  grouP  of  Poets  and  so  thoroughly  im- 
bued with  its  spirit  that  his  name  seems 

Story  of  a  Bad  r 

Boy.   1870.         out  of  place  when  classed  elsewhere. 

1873.  Aldrich  became  a  resident  of  New  York 


al~     in  1853'    His  Plans  for  a  college  education 
The  Queen  of      and  a  literary  career  had  just  been  rudely 

Sheba.    1877.  ,J  , 

The  Stuiwater     overturned  by  his  f  ather  s  sudden  death, 

TFromPonk^'    and   he   had  COme   tO   the    cit^  tO   acC6Pt   a 

1883*°  Pesth-       position  in  the  counting-room  of  his  uncle. 
AnOidTownby  But  his  tastes  and  inclinations  wore  far 

the  Sea.    1883.  .         . 

irom  mercantile.  He  employed  ms  leisure 
hours  in  writing  romantic  lyrics,  some  of  which  crept 
into  the  newspapers;  he  drifted  into  the  little  Bohe- 
mian circle  of  poets  and  literary  enthusiasts  who  had 
gathered  about  Taylor  and  Stoddard,  and  he  soon 
resigned  his  desk  to  devote  himself,  like  the  rest  of 
the  group,  to  poetry,  supporting  himself,  meanwhile,  by 
newspaper  work.  In  1855,  while  yet  in  his  uncle's 
office,  he  published  his  first  volume,  The  Bells,  a  small 
collection  of  youthful  verse,  which  fell  unnoticed  from 
the  press.  The  next  year,  however,  he  won  immediate 
and  widespread  popularity  with  his  "Ballad  of  Babie 
Bell,"  a  touching  poem  of  child  death,  and  from  this 
time  his  literary  advance  was  swift  and  sure.  He  was 
for  three  years  on  the  editorial  staff  of  The  New  York 


THE  LATER  POETS.  371 

Home  Journal,  then  under  the  management  of  Willia 
and  Morris ;  he  was  editor  of  Every  Saturday  in  Boston 
from  1870  to  1874,  and  editor  of  The  Atlantic  Monthly 
from  1881  until  1890  (Stedman,  440,  441;  Richardson, 
II.,  265-269;  Vedder's  American  Writers  of  To-day). 

As  a  Poet.  — "  In  lyric  poetry,"  says  S.  R.  Driver, 
"  the  poet  gives  vent  to  his  personal  emotions  or  experi- 
ences, his  joys  or  sorrows,  his  cares  or  complaints,(  liis 
aspirations  or  his  despair;  or  he  reproduces  in  Vords 
the  impressions  which  Nature  or  history  have/  made 
upon  him."  Judged  by  this  definition,  Aldrioh,  more 
than  any  other  American  poet  since  Poe,  is  distinctively 
a  lyrist.  His  characteristic  poems  are  drav/n  from  the 
depths  of  his  heart  and  experience,  but  he  is  not  con- 
tent to  give  them  forth  spontaneously  and  thought- 
lessly ;  he  must  cut  them  with  infinite  rare,  and  burnish 
them  into  dainty  forms  until  they  become  brilliants. 
What  many  another  poet  would  be  content  to  leave  in 
massive  proportions,  Aldrich  polishes  into  a  tiny  gem, 
exquisite  in  its  beauty.  What  vistas  and  abysses  of 
thought  one  may  catch  in  each  facet  of  such  a  lyric  as 
"  Identity." 

"  Somewhere,  —  in  desolate,  wind-swept  space, 

In  twilight  land,  in  No-man's  land,  — 
Two  hurrying  shapes  met  face  to  face 
And  bade  each  other  stand. 

"  *  And  who  are  you  ? '  cried  one,  agape, 
Shuddering  in  the  gloaming  light ; 
*  I  do  not  know,'  said  the  other  shape, 
<I  only  died  last  night.'  " 


372  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Aldrich  stands  at  the  head  of  American  writers  of 
Vers  de  SociStt,  poets  who  "  amid  all  the  froth  of  society 
feel  that  there  are  depths  in  our  nature  that  even  in  the 
gaiety  of  drawing-rooms  cannot  be  forgotten,"  who 
write  "the  poetry  of  bitter-sweet  of  sentiment  that 
breaks  into  humor."  Poems  like  "Comedy,"  "Destiny," 
"^Palabras  Carinosas,"  and  "On  an  Intaglio  Head  of 
Minerva,"  may  be  taken  as  representatives  of  his  best 
work*  in  this  field. 

Likk  Taylor  and  like  Stoddard,  Aldrich  always  de- 
lighted* in  dreams  of  the  East  and  the  South.  What  a 
wealth  oi  fancy  are  in  "Dressing  the  Bride,"  and  "  How 
the  Sultan  goes  to  Ispahan  " ;  what  passion  and  languor- 
ous beauty  m  "  Pepita,"  "  The  Sultana,"  and  "Pam- 
pinea."  But  the  poems  that  have  won  the  popular 
heart  are  those^  perfect  lyrics  written  for  the  most  part 
in  the  poet's  earlier  years,  when  the  wine  of  song  flowed 
of  itself  from  the  vintage.  Few  indeed  are  those  who 
love  poetry  and  beauty  who  have  not  in  their  memories 
stanzas  of  lyrics  like  "  Nameless  Pain,"  "  Before  the 
Rain,"  "After  the  Rain,"  "Tiger  Lilies,"  "Snow," 
"Castles,"  "Piscataqua  River,"  "The  Voice  of  the 
Sea,"  "The  One  White  Rose,"  and  "The  Night  Wind." 
Not  often  has  the  poet  succeeded  with  long  poems. 
His  longer  pieces,  like  "  Wyndham  Towers  "  and  "  Mer- 
cedes," are  of  moderate  interest.  Among  the  best  of 
these,  perhaps,  are  his  monastic  legends,  "  The  Jew's 
Gift,"  "The  Legend  of  Ara  Cceli,"  and  that  sweet 
story,  "  Friar  Jerome's  Beautiful  Book,"  that  might 
have  been  told  by  the  Spanish  JeW  in  The  Tales  of  a 


THE  LATER  POETS.  373 

Wayside  Inn.  Of  his  other  longer  poems,  "  Spring  in . 
New  England  "  may  be  mentioned  as  the  best  poetical 
effort  inspired  by  the  Northern  Memorial  Day. 

Aldrich  loved  colors,  sweet  odors,  and  mere  sensuous 
beauty  as  passionately  as  did  Keats.  He  was  a  worker 
in  words,  —  a  painter  using  words  as  pigments.  He 
succeeded  as  few  other  Americans  have  done  with  that 
most  artificial  of  verse  forms,  the  sonnet.  He  was  a 
poet  of  nature,  yet  he  saw  nature  always  through  a  golden 
mist  of  romance.  His  descriptions  were  worked  out  with 
all  the  minuteness  of  detail  of  a  pre-Raphaelite  picture, 
—  indeed  many  of  his  lyrics  might  have  been  written 
by  Rossetti  himself.  With  what  a  wealth  of  color  and 
fulness  of  detail  has  he  elaborated  pictures  like  this : 

"  And  now  the  orchards,  which  were  white 
And  red  with  blossoms  when  she  came, 
Were  rich  in  autumn's  yellow  prime  : 
The  clustered  apples  burnt  like  flame, 
The  soft-cheek  peaches  blusht  and  fell, 
The  ivory  chestnut  burst  its  shell, 
The  grapes  hung  purpling  in  the  grange." 

Or  this : 

"  We  knew  it  would  rain,  for  the  poplars  showed 

The  white  of  their  leaves,  the  amber  grain 
Shrunk  in  the  wind,  —  and  the  lightning  now 
Is  tangled  in  tremulous  skeins  of  rain." 

Aldrich's  field  was  limited,  yet  within  his  limits  he 
was  a  perfect  master.  "He  is  the  celebrator,"  says 
W.  H.  Bishop,  "  of  everything  bright  and  charming,  of 
things  opalescent,  rainbow-hued,  of  pretty  women,  roses, 
jewels,  humming-bird  and  oriole,  of  blue  sky  and  sea, 


374  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

and  the  daintiest  romance  of  the  daintiest  spots  of  for- 
eign climes." 

REQUIRED  READING. — Oriental  Pictures :  "Dressing  the  Bride," 
"When  the  Sultan  goes  to  Ispahan,"  "Pepita,"  " Pampinea," 
"The  Sultana."  Poems  of  Moods:  "An  Untimely  Thought," 
"Destiny,"  "Rencontre,"  "Nameless  Pain,"  "Before  the  Rain," 
"  After  the  Rain,"  "  Snow,"  "Castles,"  "Piscataqua  River,"  "  Tiger 
Lilies,"  "The  Voice  of  the  Sea,"  "May,"  "The  One  White  Rose," 
"  The  Mght  Wind,"  "  At  Two  and  Twenty,"  and  "  Amontillado." 
Monastic  Legend:  "Friar  Jerome's  Beautiful  Book."  Sonnets: 
"Sleep,"  "Pursuit  and  Possession,"  " Fredericksburg,"  "Barber- 
ries."  Other  Lyrics :  "  Spring  in  New  England,"  "  On  an  Intaglio 
Head  of  Minerva,"  "  Comedy." 

As  a  Prose  Writer.  —  In  1870  Aldrich  published  The 
Story  of  a  Bad  Boy,  a  book  which,  drawn  from  memo- 
ries of  his  own  early  days  in  Portsmouth,  has  in  it  all 
of  the  romance  of  boyhood  as  seen  through  the  mists 
of  gathering  years.  Its  wit  and  pathos,  its  thrilling 
situations,  and  its  brilliant  prose  style  made  it  at  once 
a  classic  among  American  juveniles.  During  the  next 
ten  years  Aldrich  put  forth  his  Marjorie  Daw  and  Other 
^Stories  and  his  three  novels,  Prudence  Palfrey,  The 
Queen  of  Sheba,  and  The  Stillwater  Tragedy.  "  Marjorie 
Daw"  may  be  taken  as  the  best  representative  of  its 
author's  short  stories.  Sparkling  with  wit,  and  full  of 
irresistible  scenes  and  droll  characterizations,  it  leads 
the  reader  on  and  on  till  of  a  sudden  it  drops  him  into 
a  cleverly  concealed  pitfall  and  leaves  him  to  his  fate. 
The  novels  are  tales  of  New  England  village  life,  idyllic 
in  tone,  and  full  of  their  author's  charming  personality. 
Their  chief  merit  lies  in  their  minute  carefulness  of 
diction,  their  sparkling  wit,  and  their  clever  character!- 


THE  LATER  POETS.  375 

zation.  From  Ponkapog  to  Pesth,  a  series  of  sketches 
of  European  travel,  graphic  and  witty,  appeared  in  1883, 
and  An  Old  Town  by  the  Sea,  a  loving  study  of  his 
native  Portsmouth,  appeared  ten  years  later. 

Aldrich  resigned  the  editorship  of  The  Atlantic  in 
1890  and  during  the  last  years  of  his  life  wrote  very 
little.  He  lived  to  revise  all  his  work  and  to  bring 
it  out  in  a  definitive  edition.  The  collected  work  of 
few  authors  is  more  uniformly  excellent. 

Later  Poets. —  Of  the  younger  poets  of  the  metropolis, 
Richard  Watson  Gilder  (b.  1844)  and  Edgar  Fawcett 
(1847-1904)  deserve  passing  mention.  There  seems  to  be 
something  in  the  atmosphere  of  New  York  conducive 
to  conscientious  poetic  workmanship.  Nearly  all  of  her 
poets,  following  perhaps  the  difficult  precedent  set  by 
Stoddard  and  Stedman  and  Aldrich,  have  been  literary 
artists  who  have  labored  over  their  work  as  a  lapidary 
toils  over  a  gem.  Gilder  and  Fawcett  have  been  no 
exceptions.  Gilder's  Five  Books  of  Song  (1893),  which 
contains  all  of  his  poetic  work,  is  a  casket  of  brilliants 
whose  beauty  is  due  largely  to  their  cutting.  As  the 
editor  of  The  Century  Magazine,  Gilder  has  become 
one  of  the  most  influential  of  American  literary  men. 
Fawcett,  who  has  written  voluminously  in  almost  every 
department  of  literature,  has  published  Fantasy  and 
Passion,  a  volume  of  lyrics  well  described  by  its  title, 
and  Song  and  Story,  a  later  collection.  H.  C.  Bunner 
(1855-1896),  the  late  editor  of  Puck,  wrote  many  fin- 
ished lyrics  of  the  Vers  de  Societe  order,  the  best  of 
which  are  contained  in  Airs  from  Arcady. 


XXVI. 

THE  LATER  POETS. 
II.  THE  NEW  YORK  GROUP. 

5.     WALT  WHITMAN  (1819-1892). 
"  The  poet  of  Democracy/' 

Life  (by  William  Clark,  by  Thomas  Donaldson  and  by 
W,  S.  Kennedy.     The  most  helpful  studies  of  Whitman 

are  Burroughs's  Whitman:  a  Study,  and 
Leaves  of  Grass.  «.--.•»  -, 

1855.  J.  J.  Chapman  s    Essay   in    Emerson  and 

Spe™JenPDays    Other  Essays.  In  Re  Walt  Whitman,  edited 
and  Collect         by  Traubel,  and  Autoliographa,  a  careful 

November  selection  from  his  prose  works,  furnish  full 

Boughs  (prose).  .   ,        „         ,  .  ,  .      ,  ,  Tr, 

materials  for  biographical  study.  tor 
English  views  of  Whitman  see  Stevenson's  Familiar 
Studies  ;  Dowden's  Studies  in  Literature,  and  Symonds's 
Essays  Speculative  and  Suggestive.  Whitman's  Com- 
plete Prose  Works  and  Leaves  of  Grass,  Boston,  1898,  is 
the  best  edition  of  his  works).  Walt  Whitman  was 
born  of  plain,  yeoman  stock  at  West  Hills,  Long  Island, 
thirty  miles  from  New  York  City.  His  early  £  urround- 
ings  resembled  those  of  Whittier  and  Bayard  Taylor. 
"  The  clothes,"  says  Burroughs,  "  were  mainly  home- 
spun. Journeys  were  made  by  both  men  and  women 
on  horseback.  Both  sexes  labored  with  their  own 
hands,  —  the  men  on  the  farm,  the  women  in  the  house 
and  around  it.  Books  were  scarce.  The"  annual  copy 

376 


THE  LATER  P&ETS.  377 

of  the  almanac  was  a  treat  and  was  pored  over  through 
the  long  winter  evenings. 

But  before  Whitman  was  five  years  old  his  parents 
removed  to  Brooklyn,  where  the  lad  soon  became  a 
complete  metropolitan.  He  attended  the  public  schools 
for  a  short  time,  became  a  lawyer's  office  boy,  and  at 
length  a  compositor  on  The  Long  Island  Patriot.  His 
after  career  was  a  varied  one.  "I  have,"  he  said  in 
his  seventy-third  year,  "passed  an  active  life,  as  country 
school-teacher,  gardener,  printer,  carpenter,  author,  and 
journalist,  domiciled  in  nearly  all  of  the  United  States 
and  principal  cities  North  and  South,  —  went  to  the 
front  (moving  about  and  occupied  as  army. nurse  and 
missionary)  during  the  Secession  War,  1861  to  1865, 
and  in  the  Virginia  hospitals  and  after  the  battles  of 
that  time,  tending  the  Northern  and  Southern  wounded 
alike,  —  worked  down  South  and  in  Washington  city 
arduously  three  years,  —  contracted  the  paralysis  which 
I  have  suffered  ever  since,  and  now  live  in  a  little  cot- 
tage of  my  own,  near  the  Delaware  in  New  Jersey." 

Leaves  of  Grass.  —  Whitman  commenced  his  literary 
career  much  as  did  his  brother  poets  of  the  metropolis. 
He  wrote  short  tales  of  a  sentimental,  moralizing  nature, 
as  was  the  fashion  of  the  time ;  and  he  tried  his  hand  at  0 
poetry  written  in  the  ordinary  metres.     But  the  lyHc •  ' 
was  too  delicate  a  reed  upon  which  to  voice  his  "  bar- 
baric yawp,"  and  he  soon  exchanged  it  for  an  unwieldy 
instrument  of  his  own  construction.     The  literary  form 
of  his  choice  is  a  fantastic  sort  of  chant,  unrhymed  and 
unrhythmical,  obeying  no  laws  save  those  dictated  by  its 


378* 


AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 


maker's  caprice.  Its  user  has  unlimited  license.  Its 
lines  may  contain  two  words  or  two  hundred,  and  there 
are  no  words  in  the  language  or  expressions  or  com- 
binations of  words  that  may  not  be  admitted  at  any 
point.  It  has  been  compared  to  the  literary  form  used 
by  the  Hebrew  prophets;  to  some  of  the  forms  used 
by  Matthew  Arnold  and  other  English  poets ;  to  literal 
translations  of  Homer  and  Vergil,  but  it  really  resembles 
none  of  these.  It  is  intensely  individual,  bearing  on 
every  line  the  peculiar  stamp  of  Walt  Whitman. 

Leaves  of  Grass,  in  its  first  incomplete  form,  appeared 
in  1855.  The  public  received  it  in  uncomprehending 
silence,  but  Whitman,  nothing  daunted,  still  went  on 
with  his  "easily-written,  loose-fingered  chords."  At 
length  Emerson,  always  on  the  lookout  for  marked 
individuality,  recognized  the  new  form  of  verse,  and 
immediately  the  fortunes  of  the  poet  began  to  mend, 
but  it  was  not  until  after  the  war  that  he  became  at 
all  well  known.  A  peculiar  circumstance  brought  him 
into  notice.  He  was  dismissed  from  the  Interior  Depart- 
ment at  Washington  on  account  of  the  alleged  immo- 
rality of  his  book,  when  all  at  once  from  both  England 
and  America  there  arose  a  host  of  defenders  of  "  the 
good,  gray  poet "  who  at  that  time  had  reached  the 
patriarchal  age  of  forty-six.  A  spirited  discussion 
began  which  soon  went  to  absurd  lengths  on  either 
side.  The  English  poet,  W.  M.  Rossetti,  at  the  head 
of  the  so-called  "  Whitmaniacs,"  boldly  asserted  that 
Whitman  was  the  great  representative  American  Poet, 
white  the  other  side  as  emphatically  declared  that  he 


THE  LATER  POETS.  379 

was  no  poet  at  all.  The  truth  undoubtedly  lies  between 
these  extremes,  but  the  controversy  is  not  yet  settled,  nor 
will  it  be  for  a  generation  at  least. 

His  Philosophy  and  Style.  —  (Richardson,  II.,  268- 
280;  Stedman,  349-395.)  Leaves  of  Grass  is  Whit- 
man's master  work ;  he  spent  his  life  in  perfecting  it  and 
revising  it.  He  declared  that  he  had  omitted  nothing ; 
that  he  was  all  there ;  that  the  book  was  to  be  his  "carte 
de  visits  to  future  generations."  Its  aim,  as  its  author 
expressed  it,  is  "  to  present  a  complete  picture  of  man  in 
this  age  ;  7  and  if  a  running  catalogue,  minutely  specific, 
of  every  detail  and  accessory  of  modern  life  is  what  was 
meant,  the  book  has  accomplished  its  purpose^  He  has 
touched  upon  every  subject;  he  has  described  everything, 
and  he  has  omitted  nothing  in  his  descriptions.  He  has 
filled  page  after  page  with  enumerations  like  this : 

"  Land  of  wheat,  beef,  pork  1     Land  of  wool  and  hemp !     Land 

of  the  potato,  the  apple,  and  the  grape  ! 
Land  of  the  pastoral  plains,  the  grass  fields  of  the  world! 

Land  of  those  sweet-aired  interminable  plateaus!     Land 

there  of  the  herd,  the  garden,  the  healthy  house  of  adobe ! 

Land  there  of  rapt  thought  and  of  the  realization  of  the 

stars !     Land  of  simple,  holy,  untamed  lives ! 
Lands  where  the  northwest  Columbia  winds,  and  where  the 

southwest  Colorado  winds. 

Land  of  the  Chesapeake !     Land  of  the  Delaware  I 
Land  of  Ontario,  Erie,  Huron,  Michigan ! 
Land  of  the  Old  Thirteen  !     Massachusetts  land  1    Land  of 

Vermont  and  Connecticut." 

A  long  list  of  the  fauna  of  North  America  is  followed 
by  a  description  of  the  defence  of  the  Alamo ;  of  the 
capture  of  the  Serapis  by  John  Paul  Jones ;  and  then 


380  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

by  a  minute  catalogue  of  New  York  street-sights. 
There  is  nothing  pertaining  to  humanity  that  may  not 
be  mentioned,  no  slang  of  the  street  which  may  not  be 
introduced.  All  this  is  necessary,  however,  in  "  a  pic- 
ture of  man  in  this  age."  "  Much  of  his  material  is  too 
near  to  us ;  it  needs  time.  Perhaps  those  long  lists  of 
trades,  tools,  and  occupations  would  not  be  so  repellant 
if  we  could  read  them  as  we  could  read  Homer's  cata- 
logue of  the  ships,  through  the  retrospect  of  ages." 
Here  and  there  are  lines  and  passages  that  are  genu- 
inely poetic : 

"  A  child  said,  '  What  is  the  grass  ? '  fetching  it  to  me  with  full 

hands  ; 
How  could  I  answer  the  child  ?    I  do  not  know  what  it  is  any 

more  than  he." 

Or  again, 

"  Press  close,  bare-bosomed  Night !     Press  close,  magnetic,  nour- 
ishing Night ! 

Night  of  south  winds  !     Night  of  the  few  large  stars  ! 
Still,  nodding  night !     Mad,  naked,  summer  night." 

Or  again  this : 

"  Smile,  O  voluptuous,  cool-breath'd  earth  ! 
Earth  of  the  slumbering  and  liquid  trees  ! 

Earth  of  departed  sunset !     Earth  of  the  mountains  misty  topt ! 
Earth  of  the  vitreous  pour  of  the  full  moon,  just  tinged  with  blue! 
Earth  of  shine  and  dark,  mottling  the  tide  of  the  river  ! 
Earth  of  the  limpid  gray  of  clouds,  brighter  and  clearer  for  my 

sake  ! 

Far-swooping,  elbow'd  earth  !     Rich  apple-blossomed  earth, 
Smile  for  your  lover  comes  !  " 

But  among  these  gems  there  are  scattered  such  lines  as 
these : 

"Three  scythes  at  harvest  whizzing  in  a  row   from  three  lusty 
angels  with  shirts  bagging  out  at  their  waists." 


THE  LATER  POETS.  381 

With  most  persons  Whitman  is  an  acquired  taste. 
When  one  opens  Leaves  of  Grass  for  the  first  time, 
he  sees  little  that  appears  to  him  like  poetry.  More 
familiarity,  however,  discloses  many  lines  full  of  a  cer- 
tain grandeur,  lines  singularly  happy  in  expression,  as 
"  where  the  herds  of  buffalo  make  a  crawling  spread  of 
the  square  miles."  But  after  they  have  singled  out  the 
grand  lines,  have  been  startled  here  and  there  by  the 
singularly  realistic  touches,  and  have  been  thrilled  by  a 
few  of  the  sweeping  pictures,  most  readers  find  their 
enthusiasm  exhausted.  The  most  devoted  of  Whit- 
man's admirers,  like  Stedman  and  Burroughs,  caught 
their  first  enthusiasm  from  the  lips  of  the  poet  himself, 
but  to  those  who  must  depend  alone  upon  the  poet's 
printed  words,  enthusiasm  comes  more  slowly.  It  is 
certainly  true  that  to  the  majority  of  readers  Leaves  of 
G-rass  contains  a  few  supremely  good  things  amid  a 
mass  of  unpoetic  material. 

Whitman  is  confessedly  the  poet  of  the  body.  And 
yet  he  is  by  no  means  low  or  sensual  or  immoral. 

"  Never  before  has  the  body  received  such  ennoblement.  The  great 
theme  is  IDENTITY,  and  identity  comes  through  the  body;  and  all  that 
pertains  to  the  body,  the  poet  teaches,  is  entailed  upon  the  spirit.  In 
his  rapt  gaze,  the  body  and  soul  are  one,  and  what  debases  the  one 
debases  the  other.  Hence  he  glorifies  the  body.  .  .  .  The  man  or 
woman  who  has  Leaves  of  Grass  for  a  daily  companion  will  be  under 
the  constant  invisible  influence  of  sanity,  cleanliness,  strength,  and  a 
gradual  severance  from  all  that  corrupts  and  makes  morbid  and 
mean.*'  —  John  Burroughs. 

His  Democracy.  —  One  chief  reason  why  Europeans 
have  chosen  Whitman  as  the  American  laureate  is  on 


382  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

^/account  of  his  extreme  democracy.  To  him  all  men 
are  equal,  and  as  a  corollary  to  this  he  added  thafr  all 
functions  and  parts  of  man  are  of  equal  honor./  To 
many  his  egotism  is  only  an  honest  expression  of  this 
sense  of  his  equality  with  all  other  men.  He  delighted 
in  the  sons  of  toil,  in  the  great  average  class,  even  in 
the  outcast  and  degraded.  As  Whittier  was  near  the 
soil  and  understood  the  hearts  and  lives  of  the  New 
England  peasantry,  so  Whitman  was  near  the  heart  of 
the  great  metropolis.  He  has  written  now  and  then 
of  nature,  but  he  understood  better 

"  The  blab  of  the  pave,  the  tires  of  carts,  sluff  of  boot  soles,  talk 

of  promenaders, 

The  heavy  omnibus,  the  driver  with  his  interrogating  thumb, 
the  clank  of  the  shod  horses  on  the  granite  floor." 

He  delighted  in  ferries,  and  at  one  time  he  knew  every 
deck-hand  and  pilot  on  the  Brooklyn  boats.  He  was  for 
years  on  terms  of  closest  intimacy  with  scores  of  cab- 
men and  teamsters.  "  They  had  immense  qualities,"  he 
writes,  "largely  animal, — eating,  drinking, — great  per- 
sonal pride,  in  their  way, — perhaps  a  few  slouches  here 
and  there,  but  I  should  have  trusted  the  general  run  of 
them,  in  their  simple  good  will  and  honor,  under  all 
circumstances.  Not  only  for  comradeship,  and  some- 
times affection,  —  great  studies  I  found  them  also." 
\s  Such  practical  democracy  was  new  to  Europe. 

Whitman's  personality  is  by  no  means  to  be  gathered 
from  Leaves  of  Grass.  That  he  was^-SKpvial,  whole- 
hearted comrade  to  all  men,  one  whose  soul  went  out  in 
full  to  his  fellow  whatever  his  station,  may  be  gathered 


THE  LATER  POETS.  333 

from  every  page,  but  in  his  life  there  was  nothing 
egotistic  or  immoral.  Few  of  our  poets  have  been  more 
thoroughly  lovable.  Sir  Edwin  Arnold,  who  visited 
him  at  Camden  during  Whitman's  last  years,  declares 
that  he  passed  with  him  the  most  delightful  day  of  his 
life. 

**  After  the  test  of  tune,  nothing  goes  home  like  the  test  of  actual 
intimacy;  and  to  tell  me  that  Whitman  is  not  a  large,  fine,  fresh, 
magnetic  personality,  making  you  love  him  and  want  always  to  be 
near  him,  were  to  tell  me  that  my  whole  past  life  is  a  deception,  and 
all  the  impression  of  my  perceptives  a  fraud.  I  have  studied  him  as 
I  have  studied  the  birds,  and  I  have  found  that  the  nearer  I  got  to 
him  the  more  I  saw."  —  John  Burroughs. 

His  Lyrics.  —  Whitman's  truest  poetry  is  outside  of 
Leaves  of  G-rass.  His  Drum  Taps  contains  some  of  the 
best  lyrics  inspired  by  the  war.  "  When  Lilacs  Last  in 
the  Dooryard  Bloomed,"  and  "  Captain,  My  Captain  " 
(both  on  the  death  of  Lincoln),  "  The  Man-of-War 
Bird,"  and  "Come  up  from  the  Fields,  Father,"  are 
among  the  treasures  of  American  literature.  It  is  a 
noteworthy  fact  that  in  these  noble  lyrics  Whitman 
abandoned  his  chant,  and  wrote  in  the  usual  poetic 
forms.  It  is  these  poems  that  disarm  criticism  ;  he  who 
can  write  a  lyric  as  intense  and  finished  as  "  Captain, 
My  Captain  "  is  a  poet,  and  a  poet  too  of  no  ordinary 
rank. 

""O  Captain  I  my  Captain !  our  fearful  trip  is  done ; 
The  ship  has  weathered  every  rack,  the  prize  we  sought  is  won. 
The  port  is  near,  the  bells  I  hear,  the  people  all  exulting, 
While  follow  eyes  the  steady  keel,  the  vessel  grim  and  daring. 


384  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

But  O  heart !  heart !  heart ! 

O  the  bleeding  drops  of  red, 
Where  on  the  deck  my  captain  lies, 

Fallen  cold  and  dead. 

O  Captain  !  my  Captain  !  rise  up  and  hear  the  bells  ; 

Rise  up  —  for  you  the  flag  is  flung,  for  you  the  bugle  trills  ;  — 

For  you  bouquets  and  ribbon 'd  wreaths ;    for    you   the    shore's 

a-c  row  ding  ;  — 
For  you  they  call,  the  swaying  mass,  their  eager  faces  turning. 

Here  Captain !  dear  father ! 

This  arm  beneath  your  head; 
It  is  some  dream  that  on  the  deck 

You've  fallen  cold  and  dead. 

My  Captain  does  not  answer,  his  lips  are  pale  and  still ; 
My  father  does  not  feel  my  arm,  he  has  no  pulse  nor  will ; 
The  ship  is  anchored  safe  and  sound,  its  voyage  closed  and  done; 
From  fearful  trip  the  victor  ship  comes  in  with  object  won. 
Exult,  O  shores,  and  ring,  O  bells, 

But  I,  with  mournful  tread, 
Walk  the  deck  where  my  captain  lies 
Fallen  cold  and  dead." 


REQUIRED  READING.  —  "  Walt  Whitman  "  (paragraph  206,  "  I 
understand  the  large  hearts  of  heroes,"  to  the  end  of  the  frigate 
fight)  ;  "  The  Ox  Tamer,"  "  Mannahatta,"  "  When  Lilacs  Last  in 
the  Dooryard  Bloomed,"  "  Dirge  for  Two  Veterans,"  "  The  Man-of- 
War  Bird,"  «  Come  up  from  the  Fields,  Father/' 


XXVII. 

POETS  OF  THE  SOUTH  AND  WEST. 
I.    THE  SOUTH. 

THE  history  of  American  literature  previous  to  the 
Civil  War  must  of  necessity  confine  itself  closely  to  the 
writers  and  writings  of  New  England  and  New  York. 
The  present  period,  however,  has  witnessed  a  gradual 
widening  of  the  literary  field.  The  South  and  the  West 
have  been  heard  from  with  increasing  frequency  until 
now  no  one  region  can  claim  a  monopoly  of  the  literary 
product.  The  literature  of  the  South,  even  to  the  pres- 
ent day,  has  been  small  and  sporadic.  The  patriarchal 
life  of  the  great  plantations  and  the  peculiar  social  sys- 
tem of  the  southern  cities  have  not  been  conducive  to 
literary  achievement  (p.  13).  They  have  developed  men 
of  acknowledged  genius  in  almost  every  other  field,  — 
jurists,  soldiers,  orators,  and  statesmen ;  but,  aside  from 
Poe,  no  author  of  commanding  rank.  There  has  been 
small  demand  for  literature,  the  leisure  class  as  a  rule 
caring  little  for  reading,  and  the  masses  being  illiterate. 

But  even  these  adverse  circumstances  have  not  been 
able  to  keep  out  of  sight  several  true  poets.  Amid 
untold  discouragements  they  have  sung  on;  mostly, 
however,  to  audiences  in  the  North.  "  Their  lives,"  says 
Hayne,  "  can  never  be  read  without  bitter  pain ;  the 
direct  results  of  poverty  being  but  too  conspicuous  in, 
2c  385 


386  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

the  determination  of  their  melancholy  fates."  The  war 
broke  into  their  lives  with  its  harsh  discord  ;  it  wrung 
from  their  hearts  fiery  battle  lyrics,  and  it  left  them  in 
poverty  and  shattered  health  to  sing  sadly  of  ihe  happy 
days  that  for  them  would  never  return. 

"  Forgotten  !     Tho'  a  thousand  years  should  pass, 
Rethinks  our  air  will  throb  with  memory's  thrills, 

A  common  grief  weigh  down  the  faltering  grass, 
A  pathos  shroud  the  hills; 

Waves  roll  lamenting  ;  autumn  sunsets  yearn 

For  the  old  time's  return."  —  Hayne. 

Of  these  poets  the  only  ones  who  merit  particular 
attention  are  Hayne  and  Lanier. 

1.   PAUL  HAMILTON  HAYNE  (1830-1886). 

"  No  Southern  poet  has  written  so  much  or  done  so  much  to  give 
a  literary  impulse  to  his  section,  so  that  he  well  deserves  the  title  that 
has  been  bestowed  upon  him  by  his  English  friends  as  well  as  by  his 
own  people,  'the  Laureate  of  the  South.'  "  —  Margaret  J.  Preston. 

"  His  verse  displays  the  wealth  and  warmth  of  the  landscape  of 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  the  loneliness  of  the  *  pine  barrens  '  where 
nature  seems  unmolested,  or  the  swish  of  the  wild  Southern  sea."  — 
"Richardson. 

Life  (by  Margaret  J.  Preston,  prefixed  to  the  1882 
edition  of  his  poems  ;  see  Lanier's  Music  and  Poetry.) 
Poems.  1855.  The  city  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina, 

Sonnets  and  ..  _  . 

other  Poems.      during   the   decade   before   the  war   con- 

1  Q  KfT 

Voiio,  a  Legend  tained  the  most  brilliant  and  enthusiastic 
>  group  of  literary  workers  that  has  ever 


and  gathered  in  the  South.     At  its  head  stood 

Lyrics.     1872.  & 

The  Mountain  the    prolific    novelist,    William    Gilmore 

of  the  Lovers.  ~.  ,         r^N          .  ...         ,  .. 

1873.  Simms   (p.   51),   while   about    him  were 


THE  POETS  OF  THL\  SOUTH.  387 

gathered  younger  writers  like  Henry  Timrod  (1829- 
1867),  Paul  Hamilton  Hayne,  and  many  others  whose 
names  are  less  known  to  fame.  In  "1857,  the  year  that 
witnessed  the  birth  of  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  the  little 
group  dreaming  of  a  distinctively  Southern  literature, 
established  a  literary  magazine  of  the'  first  rank,  mod- 
elled after  Blackwood's  and  published  under  the  name 
of  Russell's  Magazine.  But  the  South  \vas  not  ready 
for  a  distinctively  literary  organ,  and  t'ie  magazine 
died  a  lingering  death  even  before  the  outl^eak  of  the 
war. 

Hayne,  the  most  active  spirit  of  this  literary  movement, 
was  a  member  of  the  old  South  Carolina  family  that  has 
played  such  an  important  part  in  early  American  history. 
He  had  been  reared  in  a  wealthy  and  cultured  home, 
had  been  educated  at  Charleston  College,  and  after  a 
course  in  the  law,  had  been  admitted  to  the  bar  of  his 
state.  But  the  law  was  not  to  his  taste  and  he  aban- 
doned it  to  devote  himself  wholly  to  literary  work.  His 
poems,  published  in  Boston  in  1855,  and  his  second  vol- 
ume published  in  Charleston  two  years  later,  brought 
him  into  wide  notice  as  a  poet,  and  a  brilliant  career 
seemed  open  to  him ;  but  the  war  changed  the  current 
of  his  life.  It  swept  away  his  property  and  home, 
and  the  hopes  and  dreams  of  his  young  manhood. 
Literature  which  had  been  to  him  a  pastime  now  be- 
came a  means  of  support.  He  wrote  editorials  and  book 
notices  for  various  journals,  and  at  one  time  was  editor 
of  a  leading  Southern  paper.  His  last  years  were  spent 
amid  the  Georgia  pines,  where  in  sickness  and  poverty 


P[K 


388  AMEPIICAN  LITERATURE. 

he  wrote  his  sweete  st  lyrics,  and  where  he  died  in  1886, 
mourned  by  North  and  South  alike. 

As  a  Poet.  —  Hfxyne  belongs  distinctively  to  the  artis- 
tic, imaginative  sohool  of  lyrists.  Had  he  removed  to 
New  York,  he  would  without  doubt  have  become  one 
of  that  select  circle  whose  leaders  are  now  Stedman  and 
Stoddard.  H\s  ability  as  a  literary  craftsman  is  shown 
by  his  marked  success  with  the  sonnet,  that  unfailing 
indicator  of.  poetic  skill ;  his  true  lyric  power  appears 
in  his  songs  of  the  war.  He  did  for  the  South  what 
Whitfer  did  for  the  North.  The  lyrics  "  My  Mother- 
lav^,"  "  Stone  wall  Jackson,"  "The  Little  White  Glove," 
''and  above  all  "  Beyond  the  Potomac,"  indicate  the  high- 
water  mark  of  the  Southern  poetry  of  the  Rebellion. 
Hayne  also  bad  great  success  as  a  narrative  poet,  rank- 
ing in  this  department  only  second  to  Bayard  Taylor. 
Besides  poetry  he  wrote  a  biographical  sketch  of  his 
uncle,  Robert  Y.  Hayne  (p.  186),  and  appreciative 
memoirs  of  Timrod  and  Simms. 

"Hayne  is  a  knight  of  chivalry,  a  troubadour,  a  minrie-singer 
misplaced  and  misunderstood,  who  should  have  lived  ages  ago  in 
Provence  or  some  other  sunny  land.  What  I  admire  in  him  most 
is  his  loyalty  to  his  vocation  and  the  conscientiousness  with  which 
he  gives  voice  to  his  poetic  impulses  whether  the  world  heeds  them 
or  not." — John  R.  Thompson. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  His  best  sonnets,  "At  Last "  and  "  Earth 
Odors  after  Rain  " ;  Poems  of  the  war,  "  Beyond  the  Potomac,'' 
"Our  Martyr,"  "My  Motherland,"  "The  Little  White  Glove," 
"  Stonewall  Jackson  " ;  also  "  MacDonald's  Raid,"  "  The  Wife  of 
Brittany,"  "  Daphles,"  "  Lyric  of  Action,"  "  The  Dryad  of  the 
Pine,"  " Forecastings,"  "The  Vision  at  Twilight,"  "Above  the 
Storm,"  "  Underground,"  and  "Love's  Autumn." 


THE  POETS  OF  THE  SOUTH.  389 

2.    SIDNEY  LANIER  (1842-1881). 

"A  poet  of  rare  promise,  whose  original  genius  was  somewhat 
hampered  by  his  hesitation  between  two  arts  of  expression,  music 
and  verse,  and  by  his  effort  to  co-ordinate  them."  —  Beers. 

Life  (by  Charles  N.  West ;  by  W.  M.  Baskervill ;  by 
W.  H.  Ward  in  the  1884  edition  of  Lanier.  See  Select 
Poems  by  Callaway,  also  "  Letters  of  Lanier,"  Atlantic 
Monthly,  July,  August,  1894.) 

Of  the  little  group  of  poets  who  sang  the  no?ei).  YSOT/* 
heart  and  hope  of  the  Confederacy,  the  Poems-  1877. 

The  Boys' 

youngest  was  Sidney  Lanier,  of  Georgia.  Froissart.  1878. 
Born  in  1842,  he  had  scarcely  completed  2357*18? 
his  college  course  when  he  entered  the  ^e  Science  of 

English  Verse. 

Southern  army  to  serve  through  the  en-  isso. 

TT  ...  ,     .         ,  The  Boys'  Mab- 

tire  war.     He   participated   in   the   seven  inogion.   issi. 
days'  righting   before    Richmond;    served  p£cy°yim. 
with  the  signal  corps  in  various  parts  of    The  English 

Novel.    1883. 

the  South;  was  captured  while  in  com- 
mand of  a  blockade  runner,  and  served  for  several 
months  as  a  prisoner  of  war,  —  all  of  which  adventures 
,he  recorded  in  Tiger  Lilies,  a  novel  written  two  years 
after  the  close  of  the  War.  After  a  varied  career 
as  clerk,  academy  principal,  and  lawyer,  he  became,  in 
1879,  lecturer  on  English  literature  in  Johns  Hopkins 
University,  a  position  which  he  held  until  his  death. 

As  a  Poet.  —  To  understand  Lanier's  work  one  must 
appreciate  his  intense  passion  for  music.  In  a  letter  to 
Hayne  he  once  wrote  : 

"  Whatever  turn  I  may  have  for  art  is  purely  musical,  poetry 


390  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

being  with  me  a  mere  tangent  into  which  I  shoot  sometimes.  1 
could  play  passably  on  several  instruments  before  I  could  write 
legibly,  and  since  then  the  very  deepest  of  my  life  has  been  filled 
with  music  which  I  have  studied  and  cultivated  far  more  than 
poetry."  . 

-  Poetry  was  to  him  one  of  the  many  varieties  of  music. 
In  its  highest  manifestations  it  could  be  comprehended 
only  by  a  few.  "In  all  cases,"  he  declared,  "the  appeal 
is  to  the  ear,  but  the  ear  should  for  that  purpose  be 
educated  up  to  the  highest  possible  plane  of  culture." 
Like  Whitman,  he  protested  against  the  stereotyped 
verse  forms  and  the  traditions  of  poetic  technique. 
"  For  the  artist  in  verse,"  he  maintained,  "  there  is  no 
law :  the  perception  and  love  of  beauty  constitute  the 
whole  outfit."  With  these  notions  as  to  the  nature 
and  elements  of  verse,  he  set  out  in  all  seriousness  to 
compose  symphonies  in  words.  By  the  skilful  manip- 
ulation of  metres  and  accents,  of  onomatopoeia  and  allit- 
eration, he  sought  to  make  a  musical  picture,  if  such  a 
thing  can  be  imagined.  The  poems  "  Sunrise,"  "  The 
Marshes  of  Glynn,"  and  "  Corn  "  may  be  taken  as  the 
best  examples  of  his  methods. 

Not  all  of  Lanier's  poems  are  so  elaborately  wrought. 
Some  are  as  spontaneous  and  limpid  as  bird-songs.  Shel- 
ley himself  never  wrote  a  sweeter  stanza  than 

"  Sail  on,  sail  on,  fair  cousin  cloud  1 
Oh,  loiter  hither  from  the  sea ! 
Still-eyed  and  shadow-browed, 
Steal  off  from  yon 'far-drifting  crowd, 
And  come  and  brood  upon  the  marsh  with  me." 

Lanier  defended  his  poetical  theories  in  his  Science  of 


THE  POETS  OF  THE  WEST.  391 

English  Verse,  a  work  full  of  subtle  analysis  but  of  little 
practical  value. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "Hymns  of  the  Marshes,"  "The  Song 
of  the  Chattahoochee,"  "The  Mocking-bird,"  "The  Revenge  of 
Hamish,"  "The  Ship  of  Earth,"  "Tampa  Robins,"  and  "The 
Bee." 

The  Dialect  Poets.  —  The  leading  singers  of  the 
South,  like  Poe  and  Hayne  and  Lanier,  were  poets  of 
culture  who  represented  the  higher  classes ;  it  remained 
for  STEPHEN  COLLINS  FOSTER  (1826-1864),  and  his 
followers,  like  IRWIN  RUSSELL  (1853-1879),  to  enter 
the  cabins  of  the  lowly  and  learn  their  sorrows  and 
their  joys.  Few  American  poems  smack  more  strongly 
of  the  soil  or  are  more  unquestionably  original  than 
Foster's  plaintive  folk-songs  like  "  The  Old  Folks  at 
Home,"  and  "  My  Old  Kentucky  Home." 

II.    THE  WEST. 

The  Ohio  Valley.  —  The  first  half  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century  was  in  reality  the  colonial  period  for  the  vast 
extent  of  territory  lying  west  of  the  Alleghanies.  It 
was  a  time  of  establishing  landmarks,  of  subduing 
physical  obstacles,  of  experimenting  and  preparation. 
It  was  not  until  the  second  half  of  the  century  had 
opened,  that  the  first  songs  having  a  distinctively  West- 
ern quality  began  to  appear  in  the  periodicals  of  the 
East.  The  first  movement  towards  a  distinctively 
Western  literature,  and  indeed  the  only  movement  thus 
far  which  has  been  anything  but  sporadic,  came  from 
the  Ohio  Valley,  which,  being  one  of  the  earliest  settled 


392  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

portions  of  the  West,  had  acquired  a  marked  individu- 
ality. From  the  Ohio  Valley  have  come  the  poets 
Alice  and  Phoebe  Gary,  Piatt,  Hay,  and  Riley,  and  the 
novelists  Eggleston  and  Howells,  all  of  whom  have 
done  much  to  cast  a  literary  atmosphere  over  the  land 
of  their  birth.  (See  Venable's  Beginnings  of  Literary 
Culture  in  the  Ohio  Valley.) 

1.   JOHN  JAMES  PIATT  (b.  1835). 

The  lit  Je  volume  of  youthful  verse  which  was  pub- 
lished in  1860,  under  the  title  Poems  of  Two  Friends, 

marks  the  appearance  of  the  first  poetry 
Poems  of  Two 

Friends.  1860.  having  a  distinctively  Western  flavor.  Its 
Washington*  authors,  two  printing-office  employees,  soon 

1864-  left  the  West,  Piatt  for  Washington,  where 

Poems  in  Sun- 
shine and  Fire-   a  long  and  honorable  official  career  awaited 

light.    1866.  ' 

Western  win-  "im,  an(*  Howells  for  Venice,  where  he  was 
dows.  1869.  f-o  pass  four  years  as  American  Consul. 

Landmarks  and    -r»    i    i-*«    .  /•  ,    i  •  ,•         r»   -i  i 

other  Poems.      But  Piatt  never  forgot  his  native  fields. 

"I  Q71 

idyis  and  Lyrics  ^rom  memories  of  his  childhood  he  drew 
°{theim°  Val~  loving  studies  of  the  heart  life  of  his  home 
State  until  he  became  the  Whittier  of  the 
middle  West.  Piatt  from  1882  to  1893  was  Consul  at 
Cork,  Ireland,  and  since  that  time  he  has  resided  at 
North  Bend,  Ohio. 

"  John  Piatt,  the  laureate  of  prairie  and  homestead  life,  has  won 
a  just  reputation  for  his  reflective  and  idyllic  verse.  He  has  a 
Wordsworthian  sympathy  with  nature,  and  knowledge  of  its 
forms,  and  a  sincere  purpose.  He  transmits  with  much  simplicity 
the  air  and  bloom  of  the  prairie,  the  firelight  in  the  settler's  home, 


THE  POETS  OF  THE  WEST.  393 

and  the  human  endeavor  of  the  great  inland  States  he  knows  so 
well."  —  Stedman. 

2.   JOHN   HAY   (1838-1905). 

John  Hay,  a  native  of  Indiana,  a  graduate  of  Brown 
University,  1858,  was  private  secretary  to  Abraham  Lin- 
coln from  1861  to  the  President's  death,  Secretary  of 
Legation  in  Paris,  Vienna,  and  Madrid,  editorial  writer 
in  the  New  York  Tribune,  1870-5,  Assistant  Secretary 
of  State,  1879-81,  ambassador  to  England,  1897-8,  and 
Secretary  of  State  under  McKinley  and  under  Roosevelt. 
In  1871  he  published  a  volume  of  humorous  Western  bal- 
lads that  for  a  time  surpassed  in  popularity  even  Bret 
Harte's  work  in  the  same  field.  His  uJim  Bludso," 
"Little  Breeches,"  and  "  Mystery  of  Gilgal  "  gave  prom- 
ise of  a  poetic  career  of  no  ordinary  brilliancy,  but  Hay 
was  content  to  abandon  the  field  with  his  first  success. 

His  Castilian  Days,  a  series  of  graceful  studies  of  the 
social  life,  the  romance,  and  the  beauty  of  Spain,  to 
which  country  he  was  Consul  during  the  administration 
of  Johnson,  appeared  the  same  year  with  Pike  County 
Ballads.  But  his  crowning  work  was  the  ponderous 
life  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  written  in  conjunction 
with  Nicolay,  which  ran  for  two  years  in  the  The  Cen- 
tury Magazine,  The  work  is  in  reality  a  minute  record 
of  one  of  the  most  important  periods  in  American  his- 
tory, and  in  every  respect  is  one  of  the  very  greatest  of 
American  biographies. 

SUGGESTED  READING.  — "  Jim  Bludso,"  "  Little  Breeches," 
"The  Cradle  and  the  Grave  of  Cervantes,"  from  Castilian  Days. 


394  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Other  Western  Poets.  —  Of  the  younger  school  of 
Western  poets  only  three  merit  especial  attention. 
WILL  CARLETON  (b.  1845),  a  native  of  Michigan,  but 
of  late  years  a  resident  of  Brooklyn,  has  achieved  a 
wide  popularity  with  his  humorous  and  pathetic  ballads 
of  the  home  and  the  farm.  EUGENE  FIELD  (1850- 
1895),  the  sprightly  humorist  and  poet,  did  his  most 
enduring  work  as  a  delineator  of  child  life.  His  "  Lit- 
tle Boy  Blue,"  full  of  exquisite  tenderness  and  true 
pathos,  is  his  best  poem.  Although  a  native  of  St. 
Louis,  Field  was  reared  and  educated  in  Massachusetts. 
From  1883  until  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  connected 
with  The  Chicago  News,  conducting  with  rare  ability 
the  column  entitled  "Flats  and  Sharps"  which,  with 
mingled  satire  and  wit,  waged  a  fierce  warfare  against 
shams  of  every  kind.  Among  his  books  may  be  men- 
tioned A.  Little  Book  of  Western  Verse  and  Echoes  from 
the  Sabine  Farm,  a  sparkling  translation  of  the  Odes 
of  Horace.  The  youngest  of  the  Ohio  Valley  school, 
and  in  many  respects  its  most  promising  member,  is- 
JAMES  WHITCOMB  RILEY  (b.  1853),  "the  Hoosier 
Poet,"  whose  quaint  and  homely  idyls  of  country  life 
are  full  of  true  humor  and  genuine  poetry.  Among 
his  volumes  may  be  mentioned  The  Old  Swimmirf 
Hole  (1883),  and  Armazinda  (1894). 

The  California  Poets.  —  The  discovery  of  gold  in 
California  in  1849,  with'  its  attendant  excitement  and 
its  unprecedented  conditions,  marks  the  opening  of  a 
picturesque  era  in  American  history.  The  mad  rush 
of  all  nationalities  across  the  pathless  plains,  around 


THE  POETS  OF  THE  WEST.  395 

the  southern  cape,  across  the  isthmus;  the  headlong 
scramble  of  the  mines  ;  the  mining  towns  that  rose  as 
if  by  magic  in  every  gulch;  the  lawless  miners  who 
appealed  to  no  law  save  their  revolvers,  —  men  who 
to-day  might  be  fabulously  rich,  treating  the  town  to 
champagne  in  buckets,  to-morrow  "  busted,"  and  at 
work  with  spade  and  cradle  ;  the  rivalry  and  excite- 
ment when  a  stroke  of  the  pick  might  make  a  man  a 
millionaire  or  the  turn  of  a  card  reduce  him  to  poverty  ; 
the  new  scenery,  almost  tropical  in  its  flora,  and  unprec- 
edented in  its  proportions,  with  mammoth  plants  and 
trees,  great  canons,  alkaline  plains,  and  lofty  sierras,  — 
all  this  was  highly  romantic  and  bound  sooner  or  later 
to  have  its  laureate. 

1.     FRANCIS  BRET  HARTE  (1839-1902). 

"There  remain  the  democratic  poets,  among  them  Bret  Harte, 
Cincinnatus  (Joaquin)  Miller,  and  Walt  Whitman.  All  three  are 
poets  of  the  peculiar  life  of  the  New  World,  and  not  of  the  features 
it  possesses  in  common  with  the  Old.  Bret  Harte  is  the  poet  of  the 
red-shirted  diggers,  Miller  of  the  filibuster  chiefs  like  Walker  in  Nica- 
ragua, Whitman  of  the  workmen  on  wharves  and  farms,  in  dockyards, 
factories,  and  foundries,  —  of  the  free  strong  life  of  Young  America.  " 
—  Stedman. 

The  first  literary  echo  from  the  California  mines  was 
in  Bayard  Taylor's  Eldorado,  and  Rhymes  of  Travel, 
written  in  the  first  feverish  days  of  the  Condensed 
gold  excitement,  before  the  region  had 


gained  the  peculiar  individuality  that  was  ^,oelms'   l^71' 
to  characterize  it  in  later  times.    The  next  gonauts.   1875. 

,  1,1  i    Gabriel  Conroy. 

echo  came  years  later,  when  a  young  and  ISTG. 


396  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Echoes  of  the       unknown  writer  startled   the  world  with 

Foothills.    1879.    .  .  _  . 

The  Twins  of  nis  graphic  pictures  of  life  in  the  Califor- 
Tabie  Mountain.  nia  gUiches  with  its  unprecedented  social 
In  the  Carqui-  and  moral  conditions. 

nez  Woods.  ^  .       _.  TT 

1883.  trancis   Bret   Harte,   a   native   of    the 

fagle'^°UmQat  State  of  New  York> had  Sone  to  California 
And  many  in  1854,  in  the  most  picturesque  days  of  the 
gold  excitement.  After  a  varied  career  as 
school-teacher,  miner,  compositor,  and  editor,  he  founded 
in  San  Francisco,  in  1868,  The  Overland  Monthly,  a 
purely  literary  magazine  whose  spirit  was  well  typified 
by  the  vignette  upon  its  title  page,  —  a  grizzly  bear 
crossing  a  railroad  track.  He  had  commenced  his  lit- 
erary career  by  contributing  to  the  San  Francisco  jour- 
nals several  poems  of  more  than  ordinary  merit,  among 
them  "  John  Burns  of  Gettysburg,"  and  "  The  Pliocene 
Skull,"  and  he  had  published  in  1867  his  Condensed 
Novels,  an  amusing  series  of  parodies  so  cleverly  exe- 
cuted as  to  be  actually  valuable  as  literary  criticism.  It 
was  not,  however,  until  the  appearance  of  "  The  Luck 
of  Roaring  Camp,"  in  the  second  number  of  the  Monthly, 
and  "  The  Outcasts  of  Poker  Flat,"  in  the  third  number, 
that  he  gained  more  than  a  local  audience;  but  after 
the  publication  of  these  sketches  and  others  that  fol- 
lowed in  rapid  succession,  Harte  found  himself  all  at 
once  the  most  popular  of  American  authors.  The  Brit- 
ish press,  which  has  always  insisted  that  our  literature 
should  deal  with  characters  and  scenes  and  principles 
peculiar  exclusively  to  the  New  World,  at  once  hailed 
him  as  the  long-looked-for  American  laureate.  His 


THE  POETS   OF  THE    WEST.  397 

countrymen  also  were  unstinted  in  their  praise.  When, 
in  1871,  he  came  to  the  East,  his  journey  was  almost  a 
triumphal  procession.  The  Atlantic  Monthly  offered  him 
ten  thousand  dollars  a  year  to  write  exclusively  for  its 
pages.  In  1878  he  was  appointed  Consul  to  Crefeld, 
Germany,  but  was  transferred  soon  after  to  Glasgow, 
where  he  remained  during  two  administrations.  He 
then  took  up  his  residence  in  England,  where  until  his 
death  he  continued  to  pour  out  tales  of  California  life, 
publishing  sometimes  as  many  as  three  volumes  in  a  year. 
As  a  Poet.  —  During  the  earlier  period  of  his  literary 
career,  when  his  message  to  the  world  was  as  yet  untold 
and  burning  within  him,  Harte  as  often  expressed  himself 
in  poetry  as  in  prose,  and  indeed  his  first  prose  sketches 
in  their  intensity,  their  conception,  and  workmanship  are 
very  near  to  poetry.  His  poems  were  innovations  as  truly 
original  in  conception  and  execution  as  they  were  in  sub- 
ject and  theme.  They  are  mostly  monologues  written 
in  the  dialect  of  the  mines,  full  of  slang  and  exclamation. 
There  is  little  variety.  A  few  stock  characters  and  a  few 
incidents  are  used  over  and  over  again.  The  wit  is  some- 
times forced  and  the  humor  overdrawn.  But  neverthe- 
less there  is  in  them  the  indefinable  charm  of  genius. 
Here  and  there  are  lyrics  that,  judged  by  any  standard, 
are  faultless  gems.  The  beautiful  story  of  "  Conception 
de  Arguello  "  is  one  of  the  glories  of  American  literature. 
What  a  wealth  of  poetic  description  in  the  lines : 

"  Week  by  week  the  near  hills  whitened  in  their  dusty  leather 

coats,  — 

Week  by  week  the  far  hills  darkened  from  the  fringing  plain 
of  oaks ; 


398  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Till  the  rains  came  and  far-breaking,  on  the  fierce  southwester 

tost, 
Dashed  the  whole  long  coast  with  color,  and  then  vanished  and 

were  lost. 
So  each  year  the  seasons  shifted  :  wet  and  warm  and  drear  and 

dry; 
Half  a  year  of  clouds  and  flowers,  —  half  a  year  of  dust  and 

sky." 

The  best  known  of  all  Harte's  lyrics  is  his  "Plain 
Language  from  Truthful  James,"  better  known  as 
"  The  Heathen  Chinee,"  which  was  hastily  written,  like 
Lowell's  "The  Courtin',"  to  fill  an  unfinished  column. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "Conception  de  Arguello,"  "Jim,"  "To 
*  Pliocene  Skull,"  "In  the  Tunnel,"  "John  Burns  of  Gettysburg," 
"  The  Heathen  Chinee." 

As  a  Prose  Writer.  —  (Richardson,  II.  See  also 
Haweis'  American  Humorists?)  Although  from  the 


The  Luck  of  °*    ^s    nrst    sketches    in   the    Over- 


Roaring  Camp."  ian^  ]tfonthly  until  his  death,   Harte  con- 

"  The  Outcasts 

of  Poker  Fiat."  tinned  to  write  volume  after  volume  of 
"  Tennessee's  California  tales,  the  first  sketches  from 
Partner."  j^g  pen  mark  the  highest  reach  of  his 

"Brown  of 

Caiaveras."  literary  achievement.  Not  only  were  these 
cifuTcam^to  fipst  creations  full  of  novel  scenes  and 
Simpson's  Bar."  unprece(iented  characters,  but  they  were 
works  of  literary  art  worthy  to  be  compared  with  the 
rarest  products  of  American  genius.  Their  pathos  and 
humor  are  genuine  ;  their  action  intensely  dramatic  ; 
their  imaginative  power  of  epic  strength.  It  is  hard 
indeed  to  find  flaws  in  these  accurately  cut  cameos. 
Had  Harte  died  in  the  full  flush  of  his  early  achieve- 


THE  POETS  OF  THE   WEST.  399 

ment,  the  world  would  never  have  done  discussing  what 
might  have  been  the  ripe  fruit  when  the  early  windfalls 
were  of  such  rare  quality.  But  Harte's  ripe  fruit  was 
of  inferior  flavor.  All  that  he  wrote  in  his  later 
years  was  simply  a  recombination  again  and  again  of 
the  scenes  and  characters  and  incidents  of  his  earlier 
work,  with  less  art  and  less  enthusiasm  and  energy. 

His  canvas  was  a  limited  one  ;  his  characters  were  few, 
and,  as  in  his  poetry,  his  stock  incidents  and  scenes  were 
used  over  and  over  again.  His  tales  all  point  to  the 
same  moral,  —  that  in  the  dregs  of  men,  in  gamblers, 
murderers,  drunkards,  desperadoes,  and  outcasts,  there 
are  the  latent  germs  of  heroes ;  that  the  evil  in  man  can 
never  completely  drive  the  good  from  the  heart. 

He  was  pre-eminently  a  writer  of  sketches.  He  ex- 
celled in  painting  with  a  few  deft  strokes  a  scene  or  a 
character,  but  he  was  without  sustained  power  of  imagi- 
nation. He  has  been  called  "  a  short-winded  Dickens,"  and 
indeed  up  to  a  certain  point  the  criticism  is  a  just  one.  His 
characters  are  grotesque ;  his  style  sometimes  savors  of 
Dickens ;  he  deals  with  low  life ;  and  he  uses  pathos 
and  humor  with  rare  skill.  That  he  is  "  short-winded  " 
is  seen  in  the  way  that  he  fails  miserably  with  anything 
longer  than  a  mere  sketch.  His  longer  novels,  like 
G-abriel  Conroy  and  The  Story  of  a  Mine,  are  simply 
collections  of  episodes.  But  the  comparison  with 
Dickens  fails  when  we  consider  his  inability  to  draw 
character. 

"  When  we  have  given  full  credit  to  the  pathos  and  humor,  to 
the  poetic  quality  of  fancy  and  imagination,  then  we  must  stop. 


400  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

We  have  about  reached  the  limit  of  the  author's  powers.  The 
material  for  a  fully  developed  character  of  any  single  individual 
is  wanting.  The  action  of  men  as  arising  from  a  bundle  of  mo- 
tives is  not  developed  at  all  ;  we  see  phases  of  life,  but  no  complete 
life.  We  get  a  burning  moment  in  a  reckless  career,  an  instanta- 
neous photograph,  and  that  is  all."  —  /.  H.  Morse. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  «  The  Outcasts  of  Poker  Flat  ;  "  «  How 
Santa  Glaus  came  to  Simpson's  Bar." 

2.  JOAQUIN  MILLER  (b.  1841). 

"The  Oregon  Byron." 

"  His  poetry  is  tropical  in  its  profusion  of  color,  and  Eastern  in 
the  glowing  heat  of  its  impetuous  passion."  —  Stedman. 

The  story  of  Cincinnatus  Hiner  Miller  reads  like  one 
of  Harte's  tales.  He  had  gone  with  his  father  from 
Songs  of  the  Indiana  to  Oregon  in  his  thirteenth  year, 
Sierras.  1870.  na(j  worke(j  for  a  time  on  a  farm,  and  at 

Songs  of  the  •»      i       ^ 

Suniands.  1873.  the  age  of  sixteen  had  entered  the  Cali- 
Delen  fornia  mines.  Later  he  went  with  Walker 

Songs  of  Italy.    j-o   Nicaragua,  -joined  a  tribe  of  Indians, 

Songs  of  the  J 

Mexican  Seas,     becoming  at  length  their  sachem,  returned 


to  Oregon,  and  began  the  study  of  law. 

^ut  ^s  ^e8^  stu(^es  soon  tiring  him,  he 
Nicaragua.         for  one  year  filled  the  hazardous  position 

Shadoios  of  .         .  .  ,       .    . 

Shasta  (prose),  of  express  messenger  for  the  gold-mining 
And  others.  districts  of  Idaho,  after  which  he  edited 
for  a  time  a  weekly  newspaper  soon  suppressed  for 
disloyalty,  and  in  1866  he  was  elected  county  judge  in 
Eastern  Oregon.  In  1870  he  published  his  first  volume, 
Songs  of  the  Sierras,  w'riich  attracted  immediate  atten- 
tion. Lured  by  the  warm  welcome  given  the  book  by 


THE  POETS  OF  THE   WEST.  401 

the  British  press,  Miller  the  same  year  sailed  for  Europe, 
where  he  was  received  with  marked  honors  by  the  high- 
est literary  society.  On  his  return  to  America  he  lived 
for  a  time  in  Washington,  but  in  1887  he  removed  to 
Oakland,  California.  In  1897-8  he  went  to  the  Klon- 
dike as  reporter  for  a  New  York  journal. 

As  a  Poet.  —  Miller's  poetry  is  in  many  respects  what 
might  be  expected  from  one  who  has  had  little  education 
save  that  gained  from  contact  with  rough  men  and  wild 
scenes.  He  early  declared  that  he  cared  not  a  fig  for 
"  rith-um  and  measurement " ;  he  uses  adjectives  to 
redundancy ;  and  he  echoes  on  every  page  his  favorite 
poets,  Byron  and  Swinburne.  He  attracted  attention 
chiefly  on  account  of  the  strangeness  of  his  backgrounds 
and  the  tropical  richness  of  his  imagination.  For  a  time 
it  was  believed  that  he  was  a  Byron  in  the  rough,  and 
that  more  maturity  and  culture  and  a  broader  horizon 
would  make  of  him  a  poet  of  high  rank.  But  Miller 
has  never  risen  above  his  earliest  work.  His  poems 
have  at  times  a  wild,  lawless  beauty,  and  their  pictures 
of  the  deserts,  the  sierras,  and  the  American  tropics,  are 
often  thrilling  and  poetic,  but  these  grains  of  gold  are 
scattered  among  a  dreary  mass  of  rubbish.  Miller 
stands  as  a  picturesque  figure  in  American  literature, 
and  his  name  will  always  be  mentioned  in  connection 
with  that  of  Bret  Harte,  but  the  early  decline  of  his 
fame  seems  to  indicate  that  he  is  not  a  poet  of  high 
rank. 


XXVIII. 

WOMAN  IN  LITERATURE. 

DUEING  the  period  since  the  Civil  War  no  literary 
movement  has  been  more  marked  or  significant  than  the 
great  advancement  made  by  woman.  It  is  now  seen 
clearly  that  woman  has  found  her  complete  emancipa- 
tion first  in  the  world  of  letters.  Her  literary  wares 
now  compete  for  the  same  market  as  those  of  men,  and 
command  equal  respect  and  equal  compensation. 

The  province  occupied  by  woman  is  not  a  broad  one. 
Almost  without  exception  she  has  confined  herself  to  two 
forms  of  literary  expression:  the  lyric  poem  and  the 
short  sketch  or  novel  of  domestic  life.  As  a  poet  she 
has  dealt  largely  with  subjective  subjects.  Her  poems 
are  mostly  the  songs  of  moods ;  of  joys  and  sorrows ;  of 
aspirations  and  fears ;  of  impressions  made  by  objects  of 
beauty.  Since  nearly  all  the  women  poets  have  sung  in 
the  same  key,  voicing  the  same  typical  moods  and  expe- 
riences, the  result  has  been  to  some  degree  monotonous. 
While  many  have  sung  well,  few  have  stood  out  pre- 
eminent. Many  a  strong  voice  that  in  the  early  days 
would  have  commanded  wide  attention  is  now  lost  in 
the  swelling  harmony  of  the  great  chorus. 

402 


WOMAN  IN  LITERATURE.  403 

I.    POETRY. 

1.   ALICE  GARY  (1820-1871). 

Perhaps  the  earliest  singer  of  the  Ohio  Valley,  though 
she  bore  no  distinctively  Western  message,  was  Alice 
Carv  of  Cincinnati,  whose  first  volume  of 

Poems  of  Alice 

poems  appeared  in  1850.      The  story  of  and  Phoebe 

J  Gary.    1850. 

her  girlhood  has  in  it  much  to  remind  one   ciovernook. 
of  the  early  struggles  of  Whittier.     The  ^fiiywood  (a 
daughter  of  a  humble  home,  she  had  been  nove1)-   1855- 

Married,  not 

deprived  of  education  and  culture,  but  Mated.  1856. 
with  her  sister  Phoebe,  whose  life  became  country  Life. 
almost  a  part  of  her  own,  she  had  toiled  L  ^  and 

blindly  on.  She  found  at  length  a  warm  Hymns.  1866 
.  .  ,  .  „,,,  ., ,.  ,  ,  ,  .  ,  Snoivberries. 

mend  in  Whittier,  by  whose  advice  she  1869. 
printed  her  first  volume,  and  thus  cham-  Andothers- 
pioned,  she  soon  gained  such  general  praise  that  in  1851 
she  removed  to  New  York  City,  where  she  was  hailed  as 
"  the  Jean  Ingelow  of  America."     Here  she  passed  the 
rest  of  her  life.    During  her  last  years  her  modest  home 
in  Twentieth  Street  became  the  frequent  meeting-place 
of  the  purest  and  best  circles  of  literary  New  York. 

Alice  Gary's  poems  are  colorless  and  passionless. 
They  have  little  spontaneity  or  large  creative  power. 
Everywhere  in  them  one  finds  the  hackneyed  epithets 
and  phrases,  the  sing-song  rhythm,  arid  the  sentimental 
pictures  of  the  period  in  which  they  were  written. 
Their  charm  consists  in  their  sweet  femininity  and  their 
rare  delicacy  and  simplicity.  With  a  certain  large 
class  of  readers  these  poems  have  a  perennial  charm. 


404  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Perhaps  her  best  claim  to  remembrance  is  her  Clover- 
nook,  a  series  of  prose  studies  of  her  early  Ohio  home. 
"  They  bear,"  said  Whittier,  "  the  true  stamp  of  genius, 
—  simple,  natural,  truthful,  —  and  evince  a  keen  sense 
of  the  humor  and  pathos,  of  the  comedy  and  tragedy,  of 
life  in  the  country." 

Among  her  poems  may  be  mentioned  "Pictures  of 
Memory,"  praised  by  Poe,  "  The  Gray  Swan,"  "  The  Pict- 
ure Book,"  and  "  Our  Schoolmaster."  Pho3be  Gary's 
"  One  Sweetly  Solemn  Thought  "  has  become  one  of 
the  most  popular  of  American  hymns.  (See  Whittier's 
"  The  Singer  "  ;  also  Memorial  of  Alice  and  Phoebe  Cary, 
Mary  Clemmer  Ames.) 

2.   LUCY  LARCOM  (1826-1893). 

Like  the  Gary  sisters  and  many  other  women  who 
won  literary  recognition  during  the  middle  years  of 
Ships  in  the  the  century,  Lucy  Larcom  came  from 

Mist.    1859.  ,  „  J       _    J 

Wild  Roses  of     humble  life.      r  or  several  years  she  was 


a  mil1  £irl  in  Lowell>  Massachusetts,  and 
her  first  knowledge  of  poetry  was  gained 

, 

from  books  and  clippings  studied  at  odd 
moments  amid  the  clashing  of  the  looms. 
AS  it  is  in          At  length   she  became   a   school-teacher, 

Heaven. 

And  others.  and  finally  editor  for  a  time  of  Our  Young 
Folks.  Like  the  Gary  sisters,  she  early  received  encour- 
agement from  Whittier.  Her  little  poem,  "Hannah 
Binding  Shoes,"  first  brought  her  into  notice,  and  her 
ringing  patriotic  songs  during  the  Civil  War  gave  her  a 
wide  audience.  Her  poems,  like  those  of  Alice  Gary, 


WOMAN  IN  LITERATURE.  405 

are  still  remembered  not  for  their  commanding  power, 
but  for  their  womanly  sweetness  and  purity.  She  was 
at  her  best  in  pictures  of  the  mountains  and  the  sea, 
and  in  her  later  religious  poems.  (See  Lucy  Larcom^s 
Life,  Letters,  and  Diary,  D.  D.  Addison.) 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  "  Hannah  Binding  Shoes  " ;  A  New 
England  Girlhood,  Outlined  from  Memory.  See  also  her  Sonnets : 
"Clouds  on  Whiteface,"  "Chocorua,"  and  "Black  Mountain  in 
Bearcamp  Lake." 

3.   HELEN  HUNT  JACKSON  (1831-1885). 

Her  "name  outranked,  at  the  time  of  her  death,  that  of  any  other 
American  woman  who  ever  claimed  the  name  of  poet.  Mrs.  Jackson 
had  the  characteristics  of  the  Dial  group  at  its  best :  deep  and  sincere 
thought,  uttered  for  its  own  sake  in  verse  not  untinged  by  the  poetic 
inspiration  and  touch."  — Richardson. 

The  life  of  Helen  Hunt  Jackson  was  full  of  deep 
contrasts.      The  daughter  of  a  New  England  college 
professor,  Nathan  W.  Fiske  of   Amherst,    Verses  by  H.  H. 
she  passed   a   happy   childhood,  and   was  Bit8  '^  ^ravei 
given  every  opportunity  for  acquiring  an  ^72- 
education.     At  the  age  of  twenty-one  she  about  Home 

a  J  Matters.    1876. 

married  Captain  E.  B.  Hunt,  a   brilliant  Bits  of  Travel 
military   engineer,   and   for   eleven   years  °£ c™tur  of  ' 
she  lived  with  him  in  almost  perfect  hap-  Dishonor,  issi. 

.  Ramona.    1884. 

piness.      But  in  1865    her   husband   was  zeph.   1885. 
killed  while  experimenting  with  a  subma-  Between- Whiles 
rine    battery,  and  her   two   children,  her  And  others, 
mother,  and  her  father  died  shortly  afterwards. 

After  the  first  awful  bitterness  of  her  grief  she  turned 
to  poetry  for  consolation.  Her  first  work  was  an  out- 
pouring of  her  personal  suffering. 


406  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

"  Low,  still,  unutterably  weak, 

In  human  helplessness  more  helpless  than 

The  smallest  of  God's  other  creatures  can 
Be  left,  I  lie  and  do  not  speak. 

Walls  rise  and  close 

Around.    No  warning  shows 
To  me,  who  am  but  blind,  which  wall 
Will  shelter  and  which  one  will  fall 

And  crush  me  in  the  dust, 

Not  that  I  sinned,  but  that  it  must. 
Each  hour  within  my  heart  some  sweet  hope  dies." 

The  burden  of  her  cry  was  "I  am  blind."  But  resig- 
nation came  at  length  and  her  songs,  though  always 
subjective  and  intense,  became  less  like  cries  of  grief. 
Her  first  volume  of  poems,  Verses  by  H.  H.,  appeared 
in  1870.  She  had  already  found  an  enthusiastic  friend 
in  Emerson.  "  The  poems  of  a  lady,"  he  had  declared, 
"who  contents  herself  with  the  initials  4H.  H.'  have 
rare  merit  of  thought  and  expression."  Thus  heralded 
by  Emerson,  the  volume  won  immediate  success.  Lyr- 
ics like  "  Spinning  "  and  "  My  Legacy  "  became  widely 
popular,  while  the  deeper  tones  of  "  Thought,"  "  Joy," 
"Resurgam,"  "Burnt  Ships,"  " Gondolieds,"  and  "My 
Strawberry"  satisfied  even  the  most  critical. 

As  a  poet  Mrs.  Jackson's  range  was  not  a  wide  one, 
but  within  her  limits  she  sang  surpassingly  well.  She 
was  not  a  creator;  she  simply  read  her  own  heart. 
The  awfulness  of  her  affliction  cut  her  off  for  a  time 
from  the  world,  and  like  a  great  storm  it  cleared  the 
atmosphere  about  her  so  that  she  looked  far  into  the 
mysteries  that  encompass  mortal  life.  It  was  her 
raptness,  her  mysticism,  that  appealed  so  strongly  to 


WOMAN  IN  LITERATURE.  407 

Emerson.  An  intensity  of  feeling  and  expression  char- 
acterizes all  of  her  lyrics.  Some  of  her  conceits  are 
almost  startling  in  their  vividness  and  originality,  as, 
for  instance,  the  lines  in  "  Resurgam  "  commencing, 

"  Somewhere  on  earth, 

Marked,  sealed,  mine  from  its  hour  of  birth, 
There  lies  a  shining  stone, 
My  own." 

Mrs.  Jackson  ranks  with  the  four  or  five  Americans 
who  have  succeeded  with  the  sonnet.  Nearly  half  of 
her  poems  are  written  in  this  difficult  measure.  The 
best  are,  perhaps,  "Mazzini,"  "Thought,"  and  "The 
Zone  of  Calms." 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  "  Resurgam,"  "  Spinning,"  "  My  Legacy," 
"Joy,"  "  Gondolieds,"  "My  Bees,"  "Mazzini,"  and  "Thought." 

Her  Prose.  —  After  the  first  outburst  of  song  Mrs. 
Jackson's  Muse  gradually  became  silent.  Her  first 
prose  work,  Bits  of  Travel,  a  collection  of  her  letters 
from  foreign  lands,  appeared  in  1872.  Shortly  after- 
wards, to  recruit  her  shattered  health,  she  went  to 
Colorado,  where  in  1875  she  was  married  to  Mr.  W.  S. 
Jackson  of  Colorado  Springs.  In  her  next  book  she 
poured  out  in  prose  her  delight  in  the  grand  scenery 
and  the  intoxicating  air  of  her  new  home.  She  became 
interested  in  the  Indians,  and  in  1881  published  A  Cen- 
tury of  Dishonor,  an  exhaustive  study  of  the  history  of 
several  of  the  tribes,  full  of  her  burning  indignation 
at  the  uniform  treachery  and  cruelty  of  the  United 
States  government.  Two  years  later  she  was  made 


408  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

special  commissioner  to  examine  the  condition  of  the 
Mission  Indians  of  California.  The  literary  fruit  of 
this  mission  appeared  one  year  later  in  Ramona,  a  work 
pronounced  by  A.  W.  Tourge'e  as  "  unquestionably  the 
best  novel  yet  produced  by  an  American  woman." 
Mrs.  Jackson  intended  that  it  should  be  the  Uncle 
Tom's  Cabin  of  the  Indian.  She  put  into  it  all  of  her 
intense  earnestness  and  all  of  the  best  fruitage  of  her 
literary  experience.  She  succeeded  in  producing  a 
matchless  work  of  art,  but  she  was  unable  to  impart  to 
her  readers  that  sense  of  reality  and  that  potent  thrill 
which  made  of  Uncle  TorrCs  Cabin  a  living  influence. 

It  is  "the  story  of  two  decaying  civilizations  seen  in  the  light 
of  a  fresher  and  stronger  social,  political,  and  religious  development 
which  tramples  them  ruthlessly,  because  unconsciously,  into  the 
dust  of  a  new  but  half-appreciated  realm.  Hitherto  fiction  had 
treated  California  only  as  the  seat  of  a  new  civilization.  It  had 
been  delineated  as  the  gold-digger's  paradise,  the  adventurer's 

-Eden,  the  speculator's  El  Dorado.  Ramona  pictures  it  as  the 
Indian's  lost  inheritance  and  the  Spaniard's  desolated  home." 

.  —  A.  W.  Tour  gee. 

REQUIRED  READING. — Ramona. 

4.   CELIA  THAXTER  (1835-1894). 

"  While  White's  Selborne,  and  the  pictures  of  Bewick,  and  Tho- 
reau's  Walden,  and  the  Autobiography  of  Richard  Jefferies  endure,  so 
long  will  Among  the  Isles  of  Shoals  hold  its  place  with  all  lovers  of 
nature."  —  Mrs.  Fields. 

Celia  Thaxter,  much  of  whose  life  was  passed  at 
Poems  1871  Appledore  on  the  Isles  of  Shoals,  caught 
Among  the  isles  more  completely  than  has  any  other  Ameri- 

of  Shoals  J  .    J 

(prose),   1873.     can  poet,  not  even  excepting  Longfellow, 


WOMAN  IN  LITERATURE.  409 


the   echoes   and   odors   of    the    Northern  Driftweed. 

1X7£ 

ocean.     The  sea  had  been  her  companion  poemsfor 


from  childhood.     Her  father,  disappointed       i 

in   some    political    ambition,   resolved    to   The  Cruise  of 

the  Mystery. 

withdraw  forever  from  the  mainland,  and  1886. 
took  his  family  to  one  of  the  rocky  isles  off  the 
New  Hampshire  coast,  where,  as  keeper  of  a  light,  he 
passed  the  rest  of  his  life.  In  Among  the  Isles  of  Shoals, 
one  of  the  most  charming  studies  of  the  ocean  and  its 
phenomena  in  the  language,  Mrs.  Thaxter  has  described 
the  "unfolding  of  her  own  nature  under  influences  of 
sky,  and  sea,  and  solitude,  and  untrammelled  freedom." 
She  became  an  eager  student  of  nature  —  of  the  drift- 
weed,  of  the  wild  flowers  of  the  rocks,  of  the  birds  of 
every  variety  that  dashed  themselves  to  death  against 
the  light.  When  Philip  Thaxter,  a  man  of  education 
and  culture,  who  had  gone  as  a  missionary  to  the  fisher- 
men of  Star  Island,  came  to  her  in  her  early  woman- 
hood, he  brought  a  new  world,  new  ambitions  and 
dreams.  After  their  marriage,  she  went  with  him  to 
the  mainland,  to  return  only  at  intervals  to  her  loved 
islands;  but  though  she  enjoyed  her  new  life  to  the 
utmost,  the  murmur  of  the  ocean  was  ever  in  her  ears. 
Her  first  poem,  "  Landlocked,"  full  of  longings  for  "the 
level  line  of  solemn  sea,"  was  accepted  by  Lowell  and 
printed  in  the  seventh  volume  of  the  Atlantic,  and  from 
this  time  until  her  death  few  volumes  of  the  magazine 
were  without  contributions  from  her  pen.  The  last 
stanzas  of  "Landlocked"  breathe  the  spirit  of  all  her 
later  poems  of  the  sea. 


410  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

"  I  dream 

Deliciously  how  twilight  falls  to-night 
Over  the  glimmering  water,  how  the  light 
Dies  blissfully  away,  until  I  seem 

"  To  feel  the  wind,  sea-scented,  on  my  cheek, 
To  catch  the  sound  of  dusky,  napping  sail, 
And  dip  of  oars,  arid  voices  on  the  gale 
Afar  off,  calling  low,  — my  name  they  speak  1 

a  O  Earth !  thy  summer  song  of  joy  may  soar 
Ringing  to  heaven  in  triumph.    I  but  crave 
The  sad  caressing  murmur  of  the  wave 
That  breaks  in  tender  music  on  the  shore." 

"  All  of  the  pictures  over  which  I  dream,"  she  de- 
clared, "are  set  in  this  framework  of  the  sea."  One 
finds  in  her  work  the  ocean  in  its  every  mood,  —  the 
long  winter  gales  "  when  one  goes  to  sleep  in  the 
muffled  roar  of  the  storm  and  wakes  to  find  it  still 
raging  in  senseless  fury " ;  "  the  flitting  of  the  coasters 
to  and  fro,  the  visits  of  the  sea  fowl,  sunrise  and  sun- 
set, the  changing  moon,  the  northern  lights,  the  con- 
stellations that  wheel  in  splendor  through  the  winter 
night";  "the  vast  weltering  desolation  of  the  sea." 
(See  Letters  of  Oelia  Thaxter.) 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Among  the  Isles  of  Shoals;  "  The  Sand- 
piper," "  The  Watch  of  Boon  Island,"  "  The  Spaniards'  Graves," 
"  The  Wreck  of  the  Pocahontas,"  "  The  Summer's  Day,"  and 
"  Before  Sunrise." 

Other  Poets.  —  It  is  hard  indeed  to  choose  from  the 
great  throng  of  sweet  singers  that  have  made  musical 
the  years  since  the  war,  the  few  who  deserve  extended 
praise  or  passing  mention.  Of  necessity  the  list  must  be 
limited  to  a  few  typical  names.  MARGARET  PRESTON 


WOMAN  IN  LITERATURE.  411 

(1825-1897),  the  leading  poetess  of  the  South,  wrote 
many  vigorous  poems  and  sketches.  Her  Beecheribrook 
(1886)  contains  her  two  strongest  lyrics:  "Stonewall 
Jackson's  Grave"  and  "Slain  in  Battle."  SARAH 
MORGAN  PIATT  (b.  1836),  wife  of  John  James  Piatt 
(p.  392),  is  by  far  the  most  eminent  female  poet  of  the 
West.  Her  lyrics  are  thoughtful  and  intense.  Sted- 
man  credits  her  with  "  traits  resembling  those  of  Miss 
Rossetti,  —  a  vivid  consciousness  of  the  mystery  of  life 
and  death."  Among  her  volumes  are  A  Woman's 
Poems  (1871),  A  Voyage  to  the  Fortunate  Isles  (1874), 
That  New  World,  and  Other  Poems  (1876),  In  Primrose 
Time  (1886),  and  several  charming  volumes  of  poems 
for  children.  NORA  PERRY  (1841-1896)  is  chiefly  re- 
membered from  her  popular  poem  "After  the  Ball." 
EMMA  LAZARUS  (1849-1887),  a  Jewess  of  New  York 
City,  wrote  many  intense  and  passionate  lyrics,  besides 
several  notable  essays  and  translations.  Her  best- 
known  book  is  Songs  of  a  Semite  (1882).  Her  strong- 
est poems  are  "In  Exile,"  "The  Crowing  of  the  Red 
Cock,"  and  "The  Banner  of  the  Jew."  EDITH  MA- 
TILDA THOMAS  (b.  1854),  a  native  of  the  Ohio  Valley, 
is  by  far  the  best  known  of  the  later  female  poets  of  the 
West.  She  is  at  her  best  in  Lyrics  and  Sonnets  (1887), 
and  The  Inverted  Torch,  1890. 

n.  FICTION. 

It  is  in  the  direction  of  prose  fiction,  however,  that 
woman  has  made  her  greatest  advance.  Magazines  and 
periodicals  now  contain  an  increasingly  large  amount 


412  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

of  this  work  from  her  pen.  As  in  her  poetry,  she  has 
not  often  displayed  large  creative  genius  nor  shown  an 
ability  to  deal  with  the  great  problems  of  life.  She 
has,  on  the  whole,  succeeded  best  with  the  novel  of 
domestic  life,  and  with  short  character  studies  thrown 
on  a  background  with  which  she  is  perfectly  familiar. 

1.   HARRIET  PRESCOTT  SPOFFORD  (b.  1835). 

**  Her  writings  manifest  a  supreme  sense  of  beauty,  a  revelling  de- 
light in  color,  in  music,  and  all  the  luxuries  of  sense."  —  Underwood. 

Few  literary  careers   have  opened   more   splendidly 

than  that  of  Harriet  Prescott  Spofford.     With  a  single 

sparkling  story,  "In  a  Cellar,"  published 

Ohost.   1859.       in  the  third  volume  of   the  Atlantic,  she 


rose  a^  once  fr°m  obscurity  to  a  place 
Azarian.  1864.  among  the  best  writers  of  her  day.  After 
Legends9.  °i87i.  the  publication  of  Sir  Mohan's  Grhost,  a 
Poems.  1882.  sombre  novel  full  of  brilliant  description, 

And  others. 

and  The  Amber  Grods,  a  collection  of  her 
best  magazine  tales,  it  was  confidently  predicted  that  she 
was  to  become  the  leading  female  novelist  of  America. 
But  her  later  work  has  not  fulfilled  the  promise  of  her 
early  days. 

At  her  best,  as  she  is  in  the  tales  in  The  Amber  Grods, 
Mrs.  Spofford  reveals  a  vividness  of  conception  and  a 
delicacy  of  touch  which  lose  nothing  when  compared 
even  with  the  most  exquisite  creations  of  French  art. 
A  romantic,  voluptuous  Eastern  odor,  rare  indeed  in 
the  work  of  American  novelists,  breathes  from  every 
page.  Nothing  in  her  later  work  can  compare  with 


WOMAN  IN  LITERATURE.  413 

the  sparkle  and  freshness  of  this  first  vintage,  save, 
perhaps,  a  few  of  her  later  poems.  Lyrics  like  "  O 
Soft  Spring  Airs,"  "  In  Summer  Nights,"  and  "  Under 
the  Breath,"  are  full  of  a  pensive,  dreamy  beauty. 
The  American  poets  are  few  who  could  have  penned 
the  lines  : 

"  And  in  the  covert  of  their  odorous  depths 
The  robins  shake  their  wild,  wet  wings,  and  flood 
The  shallow  shores  of  dawn  with  music." 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  The  Amber  Gods. 

2.   ELIZABETH  STUART  PHELPS  WARD  (b.  1844). 

In  marked  contrast  with  the  Gary  sisters,  Lucy  Lar- 
com,  and   many   other   women   who,   without   literary 
traditions,  have  won  success  amid  untold   Gates  A^ar> 
discouragements,  stands  Elizabeth  Stuart  1868' 
Phelps,  who,  like   Emerson   and   Holmes  Partner.    1870. 
and  Lowell,  can   trace   her  lineage   in   a  Avis,  1877. 
long    line    of    scholarly    ancestors.      Her  p^mdte^mg 
father,  the  Rev.  Austin  Phelps,  a  man  of  Friends,  a  Duet. 

1881. 

great  scholarship  and  power,  was  for  many  songs  of  the 
years   an   influential   teacher   in  Andover  g£f  World' 
Theological    Seminary.       Her    mother,    a  Dr.Zay.    1884. 

_.  Jack  the  Fisher- 

daughter   of    Professor   Moses   Stuart    of  man.   1887. 


Andover,  was  a  novelist  of  great  promise, 
her  Sunny  Side,  a  pleasing  story  of  coun-  And  others- 
try  parsonage  life,  selling  100,000  copies  in  one  year. 
The  daughter  of  this  literary  household  grew  up  with 
every  advantage.     She  had  scarcely  finished  her  school- 
days when  her  sketches  began  to  appear  in  the  leading 


414  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

magazines,  and  when  she  was  twenty-four  her  The  Q-ates 
Ajar,  which  went  through  twenty  editions  in  one  year, 
had  given  her  a  widespread  literary  fame.  From  that 
time  to  the  present  she  has  written  on  an  average  one 
volume  a  year.  Her  work  has  constantly  improved  in 
quality. 

The  Gates  Ajar,  Miss  Phelps'  first  significant  work, 
was  a  notable  book  even  aside  from  its  wonderful  popu- 
larity. It  was  something  new  in  American  literature 
and  American  theology.  It  attempted  to  win  the  se- 
crets of  the  grave ;  to  solve  the  problem  of  the  unseen 
in  terms  of  the  seen.  It  is  not  a  novel,  it  is  rather  a 
series  of  essays,  intense  almost  to  incoherency,  bound 
by  a  slight  thread  of  story.  Its  theology  has  been 
sharply  debated,  and  its  intensity  and  minute  intro- 
spection have  been  criticised ;  but  it  was  a  book,  never- 
theless, that  supplied  a  need.  It  gave  an  answer  to 
thousands  who  had  questioned  in  vain  at  the  cold 
shrines  of  orthodoxy,  and  it  brought  to  them  their 
first  real  ray  of  hope. 

After  The  Crates  Ajar,  the  most  earnest  and  intense 
of  Miss  Phelps'  novels  is,  without  doubt,  The  Story  of 
Avis,  a  minute  and  impassioned  study  of  the  innermost 
recesses  of  a  woman's  soul. 

Studies  of  New  England  Life.  —  But  the  greater  part 
of  Miss  Phelps'  work  has  been  the  sketching  with 
intense  colors,  on  a  New  England  background,  of  ex- 
quisite miniatures  over  a  thinly  concealed  moral.  She 
is  one  of  the  leading  figures  in  the  little  group  of 
women  that  has  done  in  prose  for  New  England 


WOMAN  IN  LITERATURE.  415 

humble  life  what  Whittier  did  in  verse.  Few  liter- 
ary fields  have  been  worked  with  more  painstaking 
care  or  with  richer  results.  Mrs.  Stowe  (p.  330),  is 
the  leader  of  the  group.  Among  its  other  members 
are  ROSE  TERRY  COOKE  (1827-1892),  who  has  caught 
as  no  one  else  has  the  grim  humor  underlying  New 
England  life  and  character;  JANE  G.  AUSTIN  (1831- 
1894),  whose  faithful  studies  of  early  colonial  days 
are  a  real  addition  to  American  literature  (p.  18) ; 
Sarah  Orne  Jewett,  who  merits  a  more  extended 
notice;  and  MARY  E.  WILKINS  (b.  1862),  whose  ac- 
curate characterizations  have  made  her  one  of  the 
strongest  of  the  later  school  of  writers.  Nearly  all  of 
these  are  at  their  best  in  short  sketches,  —  "  thumb-nail 
studies  "  of  life  and  character.  In  this  field  they  have 
created  some  of  the  most  original  and  valuable  work 
that  has  been  added  of  late  years  to  our  literature. 

No  one  of  the  group  has  written  stronger  or  more 
finished  work  than  Elizabeth  Stuart  Phelps.  She  ex- 
cels in  studies  of  humble  life  in  the  fishing  villages 
of  Massachusetts.  Jack  the  Fisherman  and  The  Ma- 
donna of  the  Tubs  are  prose  idyls  which  are  well- 
nigh  faultless  in  conception  and  execution.  All  of 
her  work  is  intense  and  earnest.  Many  of  her  books 
are  sermons  against  intemperance  and  kindred  evils. 
That  she  is  extravagant  at  times  in  her  rhetoric,  and 
too  emotional  and  strained  in  some  of  her  pictures, 
can  be  overlooked  in  view  of  the  spontaneousness  of 
her  message,  and  the  strength  and  delicacy  of  her 
literary  art. 


416  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

In  1889  Miss  Phelps  became  the  wife  of  Herbert 
D.  Ward,  a  son  of  the  editor  of  The  Independent, 
and,  in  collaboration  with  her  husband,  she  produced 
several  novels  dealing  with  Biblical  scenes  and  charac- 
ters. These,  however,  are  inferior  works.  Her  autobio- 
graphical study,  Chapters  from  a  Life,  is  full  of  delight- 
ful glimpses  of  her  early  environment,  and  the  group 
of  writers  which  made  the  middle  of  the  century  notable 
in  New  England. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Jack  the  Fisherman  ;  The  Story  of  Avis. 

3.   SARAH  ORNE  JEWETT  (b.  1849). 

"Sarah  0.  Jewett  portrays  the  ancient,  decadent,  respectable, 
gentle,  and  winsome  seaboard  town,  and  tells  of  the  life  therein." 
—  Richardson. 

The  novelist  of  the  northern  New  England  coast, 
as  Celia  Thaxter  is  its  poet,  is  Sarah  Orne  Jewett  of 
Dee  haven  South  Berwick,  Maine,  a  little  country 
1877-  village  not  far  from  the  Isles  of  Shoals. 

Country  By- 

Ways.   1881.       All  oi  that  interesting  region  about  Ports- 
mouth,  and  Kittery,  and  York,  with  its 


A  Country  Doc-  odors  of  the  ocean,  its  traditions  of  bet- 

tor.    1884.  >  m          " 

A  Marsh  Island,  ter  days,  its  historic  family  mansions  fast 

IA  White  Heron.  goin£  to  decay,  and  its  peculiar  types  of 

character,  Miss   Jewett  knows   by  heart. 

A  Native  of  J 

Winby.   1894.     She  has  traversed  it  in  every  part,  and 

studied    faithfully    all    of   its    types    and 

characteristics.     Her  father,  a  physician  of  more  than 

local  fame,  from  her  childhood  had  taken   her  with 


WOMAN  IN  LITERATURE.  417 

him  on  his  professional  rounds,  often  beguiling  the 
time  with  tales  of  family  history,  anecdotes  of  his 
practice,  and  characterizations  of  the  peculiar  people 
that  he  had  met  during  his  long  experience  as  a 
country  doctor.  The  impressionable  young  novelist 
could  have  had  no  better  training  for  her  future 
work.  Her  first  tales  of  village  life,  contributed  to 
the  leading  magazines,  won  for  her  at  once  an  appre- 
ciative audience  which  has  steadily  increased  until  the 
present  day.  . 

Miss  Jewett,  like  most  of  her  school  of  writers,  is 
at  her  best  in  the  short  sketch  of  life  and  character. 
Her  plots  are  slight ;  she  is  seldom  analytic ;  she  deals 
more  with  individual  peculiarities  than  with  the  uni- 
versal experiences  of  life,  but  in  the  portrayal  of  these 
individuals  and  their  peculiar  surroundings,  she  shows 
a  wonderful  power.  Her  delicate  humor,  her  mastery 
of  dialogue,  her  simple,  limpid  style  which  has  been 
compared  even  to  Hawthorne's,  and  her  fidelity  to 
nature  combine  to  give  her  work  a  peculiar  strength 
and  charm.  Her  sketches  are  as  minute  in  detail  and 
as  graphic  in  treatment  as  Flemish  pictures.  Every 
feature  of  the  Kittery  coast  —  rock,  headland,  tree, 
river,  and  country  village  —  stands  out  clear  and  sharp, 
while  her  characters  seem  to  live  and  breathe  before 
us.  The  readers  of  her  sketches  are  few  who  will 
not  agree  with  James  Russell  Lowell,  that  "Nothing 
more  pleasingly  characteristic  of  rural  life  in  New 
England  has  been  written." 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  A  White  Heron ;  A  Country  Doctor. 
2m 


418  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 


4.  MARY  NOAILLES  MURFREE  (b.  1850). 

"  We  could  ill  spare  Miss  Murfree1  s  contribution  to  fiction.  It  is 
racy  of  the  soil.  The  most  exacting  among  our  British  censors  will 
not  venture  to  deny  to  her  books  the  right  to  the  distinctive  epithet, 
American."  — Vedder. 

What  Miss  Jewett  and  others  of  her  school  have  done 
for  New  England  rural  life  has  been  done  by  scattered 
In  the  Tennes-  writers  for  other  sections.  MARY  HAL- 

s,*  Mountains.     LQCK  FOQTE  (b    ^^  ^  portrayed  Rf  e  in 

The  Prophet  of  the  mountains  and  mines  of  Colorado  and 
tne  (jreat 

t™isy  i885°M7l~  Idaho;  ALICE  FRENCH  (b.  1850),  "Octave 
In  the  Clouds.  Thanet,"  has  made  the  world  familiar  with 

1886 

The' story  of  ^ne  canebrakes  of  Arkansas,  while  Mary  N. 
Keedon  Muffs.  Murfree  has  made  classic  ground  of  the 
The  Despot  of  Great  Smoky  Mountains  of  Tennessee. 

Broomsedge  •»  *•••»*•/• 

Cove.    1888.  Miss  Murfree  s  first  sketch,  "The  Dan- 

The  Juggler.         C[Q,  p^  ^  Harrison's  Q^,,  by  Charles 

The  Bitshwack-   Egbert  Craddock,  which  appeared   in  the 

ers.    loV'9.  ADC! 

others.  May    number    of   the   Atlantic     of    1878, 

aroused  great  interest  in  literary  circles.  It  was  as  new 
in  scene  and  treatment  as  were  Bret  Harte's  early 
sketches  of  the  California  mines,  and  it  was  by  a  new 
writer.  Other  sketches  appeared  from  time  to  time, 
and  in  1884  their  author,  of  whom  the  public  knew 
little  save  that  his  name  was  Charles  Egbert  Craddock 
and  that  his  address  was  St.  Louis,  gathered  eight  of 
these  sketches  into  a  volume  under  the  title  In  the 
Tennessee  Mountains,  which  was  immediately  hailed 
both  at  home  and  abroad  as  something  new  in  litera- 


WOMAN  IN  LITERATURE.  419 

ture,  the  work  of  an  author  of  brilliant  promise.  The 
story  of  the  appearance  of  Charles  Egbert  Craddock  at 
the  Atlantic  office  one  year  later  in  the  person  of  Miss 
Mary  N.  Murfree,  of  the  incredulity  of  the  editors,  and 
of  the  sensation  that  their  story  caused  in  the  reading 
world  need  not  be  dwelt  upon.  During  the  same  year 
Miss  Murfree  published  the  powerful  story  of  The 
Prophet  of  the  Great  Smoky  Mountains,  which  at  once 
gave  her  a  secure  place  among  English  writers  of  fiction. 
The  elements  of  Miss  Murfree's  success  are  not  hard 
to  discover.  Like  Bret  Harte,  she  was  the  pioneer  in 
her  literary  field.  Her  scenes  are  new,  and  her  treat- 
ment of  them  is  bold  and  original.  Her  backgrounds 
are  vast  and  chaotic ;  her  characters  are  picturesque 
and  elemental.  She  is  perfectly  familiar  with  her 
ground.  She  knows  the  recesses  of  the  Tennessee 
mountains  as  Miss  Jewett  knows  her  native  Berwick  or 
as  Miss  Phelps  knows  the  by-ways  of  Gloucester.  She 
is  not  strong  in  her  plots ;  she  is  far  below  Miss  Jewett 
in  her  manipulation  of  dialogue  and  her  use  of  humor, 
but  she  has  the  true  novelist's  insight  and  imagination. 
Under  her  pen  the  rough  mountains  and  mountaineers 
are  transfigured.  We  see  them  as  through  a  Claude 
Lorrain  glass.  No  writer  has  painted  such  wonderful 
pen  pictures  of  the  varying  phenomena  of  mountains. 
She  has  a  genius  for  description.  Beneath  her  hand  her 
mountains  stand  out  clear  and  sharp  like  paintings. 
In  all  their  moods  by  day  and  night,  in  the  dazzling 
lights  of  winter,  and  in  the  mellow  glow  of  autumn 
they  stand  displayed  upon  her  canvas,  —  a  rare  cabi- 


420  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

net  of  pictures  such  as  few  authors  of  any  land  can 
show. 

Except  in  one  novel,  Where  the  Battle  was  Fought, 
a  production  inferior  to  her  other  work,  Miss  Mnrfree 
has  devoted  all  her  powers  to  this  one  field.  Her  realm 
is  a  small  one,  but  within  its  limits  she  will  always  rule 
supreme.  (See  Vedder's  American  Writers  of  To-day.) 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  In  the  Tennessee  Mountains  ;  The 
Prophet  of  the  Great  Smoky  Mountains. 

5.   FRANCES  HODGSON  BURNETT  (b.  1849). 

To  have  written  a  successful  juvenile  is  surely  a 
literary  achievement  of  note.  Many  have  entered  this 
That  Lasso'  difficult  field,  but  only  a  few  have  left 
7'  &  with  distinction.  MRS.  CHILD  (1802- 


barian.   1881.  iggQ),  that  charming  writer  "  with  the  head 

Through  One  & 

Administra-  ot  a  woman  and  the  heart  ot  a  child,    and 

tion.    1883. 

Little  Lord'  her  contemporary,  JACOB  ABBOTT  (1803- 


wnerov-  18T9^  with  his  Rollo  Books  and  numerous 
And  others.  other  juveniles,  were  the  first  to  win  unqual- 
ified success  with  stories  for  children.  MBS.  A.  D.  T. 
WHITNEY  (1824-1906),  in  Faith  G-artnetfs  Girlhood 
and  A  Summer  in  Leslie  Q-oldthwaite's  Life,  has  written 
stories  which  charm  old  and  young  alike  ;  and  Miss 
ALCOTT,  the  leader  of  American  juvenile  writers,  has  pro- 
duced works  which  are  classics  in  their  field  (p.  229). 

But  of  all  juveniles  the  one,  perhaps,  most  immedi- 
ately successful  was  Little  Lord  Fauntleroy,  which  first 
appeared  in  1886  in  the  columns  of  St.  Nicholas.  Be- 
fore its  publication  Mrs.  Burnett  had  been  known  as 


WOMAN  IN  LITERATURE.  421 

the  author  of  That  Lass  0'  Lowrie's,  a  powerful  tale  of 
life  in  her  native  Lancashire,  England.  This  she  had 
followed  by  several  tales  of  American  life,  none  of 
them,  however,  equal  to  her  first  work,  but  with  the 
publication  of  Little  Lord  Fauntleroy  her  name  became 
at  once  a  household  word  both  in  America  and  England, 
and  it  is  perhaps  in  connection  with  this  work  that  she 
will  be  longest  remembered. 

The  charm  of  Little  Lord  Fauntleroy  is  due  more  to 
the  perfection  and  sweetness  of  its  style  than  to  its 
truth  to  life.  Such  a  faultless  creature  as  Fauntleroy  is 
clearly  impossible,  and  yet  with  such  art,  with  such 
simplicity  and  freshness  has  he  been  handled,  that  he 
delights  old  and  young.  There  is  no  doubt  that  he  is  a 
real  addition  to  the  list  of  original  characters  which 
America  has  added  to  the  gallery  of  fiction. 

Other  Writers.  —  Among  the  great  number  of  other 
female  novelists  may  be  mentioned  REBECCA  HARDING 
DAVIS  (b.  1831),  whose  Life  in  the  Iron  Mills  and  Wait- 
ing for  the  Verdict  were  popular  in  their  day ;  LOUISE 
CHANDLER  MOULTON  (1835-1908),  who  succeeded  in 
both  prose  and  verse;  BLANCHE  WILLIS  HOWARD 
TEUFFEL  (1847-1898),  whose  sparkling  novels,  One 
Summer  and  G-uenn  are  still  read ;  MARY  HARTWELL 
GATHER  WOOD  (1847-1903),  whose  stories  of  the  period 
covered  by  Parkman  bid  fair  to  take  a  permanent  place 
in  our  literature;  and  MARGARET  DELAND  (b.  1857), 
whose  graceful  verse  in  The  Old  Garden,  and  whose 
strong  novels,  John  Ward^  Preacher,  and  Sidney  are  of 
real  value. 


XXIX. 

THE  LATER  NOVELISTS. 

The  Flood  of  Novels.  —  The  literary  historian  of  a 
century  hence  may  find  that  the  years  since  the  war  — 
a  period  that  to  contemporary  eyes  seems  like  a  chaos 
of  diffusive  tendencies — were  in  reality  the  era  of  prose 
fiction.  The  magnitude  of  the  flood  of  novels  and 
tales  that  now  surges  through  newspaper  and  magazine, 
and  in  bound  form  sweeps  other  literary  products  from 
the  book-stands,  almost  exceeds  belief.  The  novel  in 
its  various  forms  is  now  the  chief  literary  diet  of  the 
American  people. 

The  causes  of  this  great  activity  will  be  more  ap- 
parent to  the  historian  with  a  longer  perspective,  yet 
they  are  not  wholly  hidden  from  the  contemporary 
critic.  Says  Stedman  : 

The  elder  poets  "  fully  met  the  need  for  idyllic  verse,  relating 
to  home,  patriotism,  religion,  and  the  work-day  life  of  an  orderly 
people.  They  did  not  scrutinize  and  vividly  present  the  coils  of 
individual  feeling.  Our  people  have  outgrown  their  juvenescence, 
tested  their  manhood,  and  now  demand  a  lustier  regimen.  They 
crave  the  sensations  of  mature  and  cosmopolitan  experience,  and 
are  bent  upon  what  we  are  told  is  the  proper  study  of  mankind. 
The  rise  of  our  novelists  was  the  answer  to  this  craving.  They 
depict  life  as  it  is,  though  rarely,  as  yet,  in  its  intenser  phases." 
— -Poets  of  America. 

422 


THE  LATER  NOVELISTS.  423 

Aside  from  its  abundance,  the  most  surprising  thing 
about  the  later  fiction  is  its  level  excellence0  The 
standard  has  been  high,  and  writers  have  been  obliged 
to  attain  to  it  or  not  be  heard  at  all;  and  yet  in  spite 
of  this,  the  period  has  been  one  of  minor  novelists.  It 
has  not  produced  one  writer  who  can  even  approxi- 
mate to  the  stature  of  Poe  and  Hawthorne. 

The  Short  Story.  —  The  fiction  of  the  period  has  been 
marked  by  two  important  characteristics, — a  predomi- 
nance of  the  literary  form  known  as  the  short  story, 
and  an  increasing  tendency  toward  "realism."  The 
short  story  is  no  new  thing  in  American  literature,  — 
Irving,  Hawthorne,  and  Poe  all  used  it  to  perfection,  — 
but  it  is  only  of  late  years  that  it  has  become  recog- 
nized as  a  distinct  branch  of  literary  expression.  Few 
literary  forms  require  more  artistic  skill  in  their  pro- 
duction. "Power  of  invention,"  says  Vedder,  "fertility 
of  imagination,  and  facility  of  style  are  indispensable, 
but  the  first  requisites  are  sense  of  proportion  and 
lucidity  of  vision.  In  the  short  story  there  must  be 
no  fumbling  with  a  purpose,  no  hazy  observation,  no 
indecisive  movement;  all  must  be  sure,  well-devised, 
clean-cut."  To  say  that  Americans  lead  the  world  in 
this  difficult  literary  domain  is  to  make  no  idle  boast. 
The  French  alone  have  produced  work  worthy  of  com- 
parison. The  short  story  in  America  arose  from  a 
distinct  demand.  The  busy,  active  "Yankee,"  who 
keeps  in  motion  our  vast  business  concerns,  has  little 
leisure  for  the  two-volume  novel,  and  he  demands  for 
his  amusement  the  humorous,  sparkling  prose  sketch 


424  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

that  may  be  read  without  effort  and  be  finished  at  a 
sitting. 

Realism.  —  Perhaps  the  most  marked  literary  char- 
acteristic of  the  period,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  has 
been  the  rise  of  a  school  of  novelists,  who,  following 
the  lead  of  the  French  Zola  and  the  Russian  Tolsto'i, 
have  insisted  upon  real  rather  than  idealized  pictures 
of  life.  The  American  branch  of  this  school,  under  the 
lead  of  James  and  Howells,  insists  that  the  stories  have 
all  been  told,  and  that  even  if  this  were  not  so,  the 
novel  with  a  plot,  a  hero,  and  a  culminating  tragedy 
is  untrue  to  nature.  To  this  school  a  novel  is  simply  a 
photograph  of  life,  a  mirror  held  up  to  nature  without 
comment  or  explanation.  "  A  novel,"  says  Howells,  "  is 
a  picture  in  which  the  truth  t>  life  is  suffered  to  do  its 
unsermonized  office  for  conduct."  It  should  deal  with 
ordinary  people  and  ordinary  events  and  scenes.  It 
should  analyze  character  with  minuteness,  sketch  pecul- 
iar types  with  photographic  accuracy,  refrain  from 
comment  upon  its  characters,  and  avoid  all  situations 
and  endings  not  absolutely  true  to  life.  The  realistic 
novelist  does  not  idealize  his  characters ;  he  does  not 
enter  that  ideal  world  of  which  we  dream  in  our  loftiest 
moods ;  he  refuses  to  throw  upon  life  "  the  light  that 
never  was  on  sea  or  land " ;  he  deals  only  with  the 
actual,  the  tangible,  the  earthy.  All  great  poets  and 
romancers  have  been  realists  to  the  extent  that  their 
pictures  have  been  true  to  nature ;  but  they  have  seen 
the  ideal  in  the  real,  and  this  the  new  school  refuses  to 
do.  Whittier's  Snow  Bound  and  Howells'  A  Modern 


THE  LATER  NOVELISTS.  425 

Instance  both  present  perfect  pictures  of  the  Northern 
winter,  but  Whittier's  work  not  only  reveals  the  mere 
externals,  it  shows,  as  well,  the  heart  and  soul  of  the 
ideal  New  England;  while  Howells  describes,  with 
photographic  coldness,  only  that  which  actually  passes 
before  his  eyes. 

The  novelists  of  the  period  may  be  divided  into  three 
groups :  the  Realists,  the  Novelists  of  Locality,  and  the 
Romantic  Novelists. 

I.  THE  REALISTS. 

1.   WILLIAM  DEAN  HOWELLS  (b.  1837). 

Life.  —  (See  Vedder's  American  Writers  of  To-day. 
The  chief  authorities  on  the  life  and  aims  of  W.  D. 
Howells  are  his  own  writings.  Few  authors  have  writ- 
ten autobiography  more  delightful.  His  A  Boy's  Town, 
My  Year  in  a  Log  Cabin,  and  My  Literary  Passions 
tell  in  detail  the  story  of  his  early  years.  His  frequent 
autobiographical  sketches  published  in  the  leading 
magazines  record  later  experiences,  while  his  essays  in 
"The  Editor's  Study,"  the  best  of  which  have  been  pub- 
lished in  a  volume  entitled  Criticism  and  Fiction,  give 
an  accurate  account  of  his  literary  ideals.  His  A  Boy's 
Town  stands  near  the  head  of  a  notable  list  of  similar 
books,  like  Aldrich's  Story  of  a  Bad  Boy,  Warner's 
Being  a  Boy,  Hale's  A  New  England  Boyhood,  and 
Mark  Twain's  Tom  Sawyer.) 

W.  D.  Howells,  the  most  noted  author  that  the  Ohio 
Valley  and  the  West  have  contributed  to  American 
literature,  was  born  in  Martin's  Ferry,  Ohio,  March  lt 


426  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

1837.  His  early  education  was  gained  to  a  large 
degree  in  his  father's  printing  office,  where  he  learned 
to  set  type  at  an  early  age,  and  where  he  was  constantly 
employed  until  his  fourteenth  year,  when  a  reverse  of 
fortune  compelled  the  family  to  seek  other  fields.  For 
a  year  they  lived  in  a  log  cabin,  but  the  young  printer 
soon  afterwards  found  employment  as  a  compositor  on 
The  Columbus  State  Journal,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
two  he  left  the  case  to  become  news  editor  of  The 
Cincinnati  Gazette.  He  had  already  begun  his  purely 
literary  labors.  His  poem  "  Andenken "  had  been 
accepted  by  Lowell  and  printed  in  the  fifth  volume  of 
the  Atlantic.  In  1860  he  published  with  Piatt  his 
maiden  volume  (p.  892),  and  during  the  same  year 
issued  a  campaign  life  of  Lincoln  which,  since  it  se- 
cured for  him  the  appointment  to  'the  Consulship  at 
Venice,  may  be  considered  the  tiwning-point  of  his 
life. 

Consul  at  Venice  (1861-1865).  — Howells  was  in 
Europe  four  years,  making  his  home  in  the  romantic 
_  ..  T.f  old  city  of  Venice,  whence  he  made  fre- 

Venetian  Life.  » 

1866-  quent  excursions  into  other  parts  of  Italy. 

Italian  Jour-        rr,,  »        .      ,  ,  , 

neys.  1867.  The  years  were  of  priceless  value  to  the 
Tuscan  Cities,  young  author.  He  not  only  mastered  the 
Modem  Italian  Italian  language,  and  became  familiar  with 
Poets.  1887.  the  beauties  Of  Italian  literature  and  art, 
but  with  his  frequent  letters  to  American  journals  he 
laid  the  foundations  of  a  lucid  and  flexible  prose  style. 
Venetian  Life,  a  collection  of  these  letters,  which  ap- 
peared in  London  in  1866,  and  Italian  Journeys  which 


THE  LATER  NOVELISTS.  427 

followed  it,  are  worthy  of  a  place  beside  Taylor's  Views 
Afoot  and  other  classics  in  the  same  field.  Full  of  life 
and  grace  and  the  boundless  enthusiasm  of  youth,  these 
books  have  lost  little  of  their  early  popularity. 

Editor  of  the  Atlantic  (1872-1881).—  Upon  his  return 
from  Venice,  Ho  wells  was  engaged  for  a  time  as  writer 
for  various  New  York  journals,  but  in  1866  he  was  made 
assistant  editor  of  the  Atlantic,  with  which  magazine  he 
was  connected  for  the  next  fifteen  years.  Suburban 
Sketches,  which,  since  it  is  in  the  same  vein  as  his  early 
work,  might  have  been  called  "  Cambridge  Life,"  ap- 
peared in  1868.  Howells  had  found  the  secret  of  his 
strength.  He  could  look  upon  life  and  society  as 
Thoreau  looked  upon  external  nature  and  see  what  most 
observers  overlooked;  he  could  describe  with  minuteness 
and  accuracy  ;  he  was  master  of  a  rare  vein  of  playful 
humor  combined  with  poetic  fancy  as  delicate  almost  as 
Irving's,  and  he  had  acquired  a  pure  and  graceful  prose 
style.  High  imaginative  power,  a  wide  horizon,  and 
broad  constructive  ability  had  been  denied  him. 

As  a  Novelist.  —  Fully  realizing  the  breadth  and  the 
limitation  of  his  powers,  Howells  now  started  upon  the 
work  of  his  life.  His  first  novel,  Their  A  „ 

A  Foregone 

Wedding  Journey  (1871),  which  recounts  Conclusion. 
with  minuteness  the  incidents  of  a  summer  The  Undis- 
tour  to  Niagara,  has  only  a  slender  thread  Country,  i860, 


of  story.     The  secret  of  its  strength  and        Z£  188a 
charm  lies  in  the  presence  of  those  very   The  Rise  of 

•r  .  *          i  Silas  Lapham. 

elements  that  made  Venetian  Life  a  classic,  1885. 

i  •   i      •  .  .         Indian  Sum- 

a  statement   which  is  true  in  a  varying  mer.   is§6. 


428  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

April  Hopes.  degree  of  all  the  author's  later  work.     He 

A  Hazard  of  depends  not  on  manipulation  of  plot  and 

New  Fortunes.  \           .      . 

1891.  rush  ot  incident,  but  upon  refinement  of 


stJ^e»  skilful  elaboration,  and  minuteness 
The  Coast  of       and  accuracy  of  detail.     Howells'  theory 

Bohemia.  1893.  m  J  J 

A  Traveller        of  realism  can  best  be  learned  from  his 

from  Altruria.  ,  ~   .  .    .  ,     -_.  mi- 

1894.  volume,   Criticism   and  Fiction.     To   him 

Many  others.  realism  does  not  mean  a  grovelling  in  the 
sensual  and  disgusting;  it  rather  means  a  faithful  de- 
scription of  life  as  it  is  really  lived  by  the  majority  of 
mankind,  full  of  commonplace  even  trivial  experiences, 
and  seldom  or  never  rising  to  the  heroic  and  the  sublime. 
Stripped  of  their  charm  of  style,  their  accuracy  of 
characterization,  and  their  abundant  humor,  his  novels 
would  at  once  become  insufferable,  but  with  these  quali- 
ties they  are  among  the  most  charming  creations  in  our 
literature. 

The  lightness  of  Howells'  touch,  his  genuine  wit,  and 
his  mastery  of  dialogue  appear  at  their  best  in  his  little 
•parlor  comedies  like  "The  Mouse  Trap,"  "The  Gar- 
roters,"  and  "  The  Elevator."  Nothing  so  good  in  their 
line  is  to  be  found  in  American  literature.  Had  he 
written  nothing  else  he  would  still  be  remembered  as  the 
laureate  of  the  trivial,  who  with  exquisite  prose  style 
and  sparkling  humor  made  classics  from  the  ordinary 
experiences  of  human  life. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Venetian  Life  ;  "  Realism  and  Pseudo- 
Realism  in  Literature,"  and  "The  American  Short  Story"  in 
Criticism  and  Fiction  ;  also  The  Rise  of  Silas  Lapham,  and  "  The 
Elevator." 


THE  LATER  NOVELISTS.  429 

2.   HEN-RY  JAMES  (b.  1843). 

"  He  looks  at  America  with  the  eyes  of  a  foreigner  and  at  Europe 
with  the  eyes  of  an  American."- —  Beers. 

The  founder  of  the  realistic  school  in  America  and  its 
best  known  representative  at  the  present  time  is  Henry 
James,  who  has  taken  as  his  literary  province  what  has 
been  called  "the  international  novel."  Few  authors, 
even  of  the  "  Brahmin  caste  of  New  England,"  have  had 
greater  early  advantages.  His  father,  Henry  James, 
Senior,  a  theologian  of  high  rank,  whose  works  on  such 
subjects  as  The  Secret  of  Swedenborg  and  Society  the 
Redeemed  Form  of  Man  are  classics  in  their  field,  edu- 
cated his  son  with  extreme  care,  taking  him  abroad  at 
the  age  of  twelve  to  complete  his  studies  at  Geneva, 
Paris,  Boulogne,  and  Bonn.  It  was  during  these  early 
years  that  James  laid  the  foundations  of  his  knowledge 
of  the  languages  and  literatures,  of  the  society  and  life 
of  Europe,  —  a  knowledge  which  he  has  since  made 
thorough  and  deep  by  an  almost  continuous  residence 
abroad.  Since  1869  he  has  visited  America  but  once,  and 
then  only  for  a  short  time.  Few  of  our  authors  have 
become  more  completely  cosmopolitan.  He  belongs 
almost  as  much  to  Paris  and  to  London  as  to  America. 

James'  first  literary  work,  contributed  to  the  Atlantic 
and  to  other  American  magazines,  was  in  the  form  of 
short  stories  and  tales,  many  of  them  of  a  decidedly 
romantic  and  even  sensational  nature.  In  1875  he  pub- 
lished Roderick  Hudson,  his  first  long  novel,  and  since 
that  time  he  has  continued  to  pour  out  a  surprising 


430  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

amount  of  work,  issuing  sometimes  as  many  as  three 
volumes  in  one  year. 

His  Novels.  —  The  term  "  the  international  novel," 
which  has  been  overworked  in  connection  with  Henry 
A  Passionate  James,  is  used  to  designate  that  class  of 
fiction  which  deals  with  the  experiences 


1877-  of  Americans  in  Europe  or  with  those  of 

An  Inter-  , 

national  Epi-      Europeans   in   America.      The   American, 

sode.    1878.  T  ,          ........  ..         i  111 

The  Europeans.  James  earliest  international  novel,  deals 
^Dais  Mill  wikh  a  man  who,  having  risen,  like  Ho  wells' 
1879-  Silas  Lapham,  through  his  own  efforts  to 

-  j  The  Portrait  of    £  i         -^  •    •  ^i 

I  a  Lady.  1881.  lortune,  seeks  Europe,  imagining  that 
Cities°fmiee  mone7  will  break  down  even  social  bar- 
The  Princess  riers  ;  Daisy  Miller  pictures  a  pure-minded, 

Casimassima. 

1886.  impulsive,    wilful,    somewhat    unsophisti- 

1886.  °  '*  cated  American  girl  as  seen  through  Euro- 

Many  others.  pean  eyes.  In  An  International  Episode 
and  The.  Europeans  the  author,  reversing  the  glass,  has 
thrown  Europeans  with  their  peculiarities  and  ideas  upon 
a  republican  background. 

No  one  was  ever  better  equipped  for  this  field  of  fic- 
tion. So  long  has  he  resided  abroad  that  he  has  become 
almost  "a  man  without  a  country,"  one  singularly 
fitted  for  accurate  observation  and  impartial  judgment. 
Yet  few  books,  not  even  excepting  Dickens'  American 
Notes,  have  raised  such  a  storm  of  American  protest  as 
did  these  early  novels  from  James'  pen.  He  was  called 
untruthful  and  unpatriotic.  It  was  charged  that  he 
had  selected  for  analysis  unusual  types  of  Americans  ; 
that  he  had  described  but  one  side  of  their  characters  ; 


THE  LATER  NOVELISTS.  431 

that  he  had  told  half  the  truth  and  only  half.  What- 
ever the  justice  of  these  accusations,  it  remains  true 
that  James  has  not  as  yet  given  a  single  picture  of  the 
average  American  tourist  in  Europe,  nor  has  he  painted 
the  portrait  of  a  single  typical  American  gentleman. 

James*  novels  deal  with  externals.  Character  is 
shown 'through  manners.  The  reader  having  seen  an 
accurate  photograph,  and  having  listened  to  endless 
conversations,  is  left  to  draw  his  own  conclusions. 
There  is  no  passion,  no  glimpse  into  the  heart.  Every- 
thing is  cold  and  correct  and  classical.  In  James* 
typical  novels  there  is  no  plot,  no  hero,  no  denouement, 
no  rush  of  incident.  The  leading  facts  of  An  Inter- 
national Episode  could  be  told  on  two  pages.  Every- 
where there  is  analysis  and  photographic  description. 
To  James,  as  to  Howells,  a  novelist  is  but  a  keen 
observer  of  life  who  lives,  note-book  in  hand,  to  record 
what  actually  passes  before  his  eyes ;  and  a  novel  is  but 
a  study  in  sociology  whose  statements  are  facts  as  valu- 
able in  their  way  as  are  those  in  any  other  department 
of  science. 

Sketches  and  Criticism.  —  But,  after  all,  the  best 
work  from  James*  pen  is  in  his  short  stories  and  his 
critical  sketches.  His  best  tales,  like  "  The  Last  of  the 
Valerii"  and  "The  Madonna  of  the  Future,"  written 
before  he  had  broken  away  from  the  influence  of  Haw- 
thorne, and  his  later  character  sketches  are  among  our 
very  best  short  stories,  while  his  Partial  Portraits,  his 
French  Poets  and  Novelists,  and  his  Hawthorne,  written 
for  the  English  Men  of  Letters  Series,  place  him  at 


432  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

once  near  the  head  of  the  American  school  of  critics. 
The  chief  charm  of  all  of  James'  work  lies  in  the  ex- 
quisite finish  of  its  style.  In  literary  workmanship  all 
of  his  tales  are  well-nigh  faultless.  Witty,  sparkling, 
full  of  refinement  and  dainty  grace,  they  hold  the 
reader's  attention,  in  spite  of  their  poverty  of  incident, 
to  the  very  end. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Daisy  Miller;  "The  last  of  the  Va- 
lerii  " ;  "  Alfred  de  Musset "  in  French  Poets  and  Novelists. 

3.   EDWARD  EVERETT  HALE  (1822-1909). 

Although  many,  perhaps  most,  of  the  later  novelists 
have  been  influenced  by  James  and  Howells,  and  have 
treated  their  subjects  from  the  realistic  standpoint,  very 
few  have  carried  realism  to  its  extreme.  Nearly  all 
have  seen  the  ideal  in  the  real.  Even  "a  writer  so 
studiously  and  narrowly  realistic  as  Edward  Everett 
Hale,"  says  Richardson,  "finds  no  clod  too  mean  on 
which  to  stand  while  his  eager  eyes  turn  with  the 
upward  look." 

Edward  Everett  Hale,  who  was  an  influential  clergy- 
man of  Boston,  won  fame  not  only  as  a  faithful  pastor 
and  a  tireless  philanthropist,  as  a  scholarly 
Perhaps.  1868.  lecturer  and  an  able  journalist,  but  as  a 
Papers9him.  short-story  writer  of  the  very  first  order 
Ten  times  One  and  a  historian  of  standard  rank.  His 

is  Ten.    1870. 

His  Level  Best,    first  story  to  win  wide  attention  was  "  My 

1873 

in  His  Name  Double  and  How  He  Undid  Me,"  first 
1874>  published  in  1859.  Four  years  later,  at 

Philip  Nolan's  /  .         ^    . 

Friends.   1876.   the  noodtide  of  the  war,  he  published  m 


THE  LATER  NOVELISTS.  433 

the  Atlantic  his  most  powerful  creation,   Franklin  in 
"The   Man   without   a   Country,"  a  tale   Memories  of  a 
ringing  with   genuine   patriotism.     These   fcjj^ 
sketches,  together  with  many  others  like    Many  others. 
"  The  Brick  Moon,"  "  The  Rag  Man  and  Rag  Woman," 
and  "  The  Skeleton  in  the  Closet,"  placed  him  at  once 
in  the  front  rank  of  American  writers  of  short  stories. 

Hale,  like  Frank  Stockton,  had  rare  skill  in  making 
the  wildly  improbable  seem  like  the  truth.  "  The 
Brick  Moon,"  a  tale  as  unreal  as  Poe's  "  Hans  Pfaal " 
or*  Jules  Verne's  From  the  Earth  to  the  Moon,  is  so  skil- 
fully manipulated  that  it  deceives  the  unwary ;  while 
it  is  commonly  believed  that  "  The  Man  without  a 
Country "  was  actual  history.  Many  of  his  books  are 
full  of  a  rollicking,  contagious  humor,  and  all  are  per- 
vaded by  a  cheery  optimism  and  a  kindly  spirit.  As  a 
historian  he  deserves  more  than  a  passing  notice.  His 
Franklin  in  France  is  the  authority  in  its  field.  (See 
Hale's  A  New  England  Boyhood.) 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  The  five  short  stories  mentioned  above ; 
Ten  times  One  is  Ten. 

H.     NOVELISTS    OF  LOCALITY. 

As  has  been  already  mentioned  in  the  chapter  deal- 
ing with  the  female  novelists,  there  has  been  a  marked 
tendency  of  late  towards  novels  of  the  soil,  —  dialect 
novels  full  of  local  color  and  describing  with  photo- 
graphic accuracy  curious  provincial  types.  This  field, 
which  has  furnished  to  woman  her  greatest  literary 
opportunity,  and  which  has  also  been  cultivated  by 


434  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

many  strong  novelists  of  the  other  sex,  appears  on  the 
whole  to  be  the  most  promising  portion  of  our  literary 
domain. 

1.   JOHN  TOWNSEND  TROWBRIDGE  (b.  1827). 

It  is  a  significant  fact  that  the  best  studies  of  contem- 
porary New  England  life  and  character  have  been  made 
by  women.  The  only  male  novelists  who  have  made 
a  substantial  success  in  this  department  are  THOMAS 
WENTWORTH  HIGGINSON  (b.  1823)  and  John  Town- 
send  Trowbridge.  Higginson  has  won  literary  laurels  in 
many  fields.  His  poems  are  finished  and  beautiful. 
His  early  essays  are  sound  and  enduring,  and  his  Mai- 
lone,  an  Oldport  Romance,  is  a  book  that  breathes  the 
life  and  spirit  of  New  England.  His  most  charming 
work,  however,  is  doubtless  the  reminiscent  strains  of 
his  later  years  ;  Cheerful  Yesterdays,  and  Contempora- 
ries, and  his  Life  of  Longfellow. 

Trowbridge,  a  native  of  Ogden,  New  York,  but  since 
Neighbor  Jack-  1848  a  resident  of  Boston,  has  won  success 
*n  ^nree  widely  differing  literary  depart- 


1863-  ments.     By  his  numerous  stories,  contrib- 

Coupon  Bonds.  T7.  _.  77         -      .  .   , 

1871.  uted  to  Our  Young  Folk*  of  which  he  was 

for  a  time  the  editor,  and  to  The  Youttis  Companion,  he 
has  made  himself  the  most  popular  of  American  writers 
for  boys  ;  by  his  powerful  novel  like  Neighbor  JacJcwood 
and  Coupon  Bonds,  he  has  placed  himself  in  the  front 
rank  of  delineators  of  provincial  life;  while  by  his 
poems  like  "  The  Vagabonds,"  first  published  in  the 
Atlantic  of  1863,  "Darius  Green  and  his  Flying  Ma- 


THE  LATER  NOVELISTS.  435 

chine,"  and  many  others,  he  has  won  general  recognition 
as  a  true  poet. 

Trowbridge's  pictures  of  New  England  both  in  prose 
and  verse  show  evidence  of  a  master  hand.  Not  only 
are  they  minutely  true  in  their  characterizations  and  in 
their  descriptions  of  externals,  but  they  reveal  a  deep 
knowledge  of  the  spirit  of  New  England.  Under  the 
genuine,  often  rollicking,  fun  of  the  novelist's  descrip- 
tions lurk  all  the  pathos  and  tragedy  of  provincial  life. 
It  is  this  dramatic  element,  this  perception  of  the  ideal 
in  the  real,  that  will  keep  Neighbor  Jackwood  and 
"  Darius  Green  "  alive  when  the  work  of  the  mere 
realist  is  forgotten. 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  Neighbor  Jackwood  and  the  poems  "  The 
Vagabonds,"  "  At  Sea,"  "  Darius  Green  and  his  Flying  Machine," 
«  Midsummer,"  and  "  A  Home  Idyl." 

2.     EDWARD  EGGLESTON  (1837-1902). 

Life.  —  (The  Hoosiers,  Nicholson;  American  Writers 
of  To-day,  Vedder.)     Of  all  the  Ohio  Valley  group  of  au- 
thors the  only  novelist  —  save  perhaps  Alice  Gary  —  who 
threw  the  spell  of  his  genius  over  his  native    The  Hoosier 
region    was     Edward     Eggleston,    whose   ^olmaster- 
broad    descriptions    of     frontier    life     in    The  End  of  the 

c,         ,  T     ,.  ,       .  ,  ,        r  World.     1872. 

Southern  Indiana  during  the  "early  for-    „,, 

J  The  Mystery  of 

ties"  are  among  the  most  enjoyable  crea- 


tions  in  our  literature.     Eggleston's  early    The  circuit 
training  gave   him  a   peculiar  fitness   for   Rlder-    1874- 

his  work.     Born  amid  the  scenes  which  he    \ 

Ihe  Gray  sons, 

describes  and  serving  for  some  years  as  a   1888. 


436  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Methodist  circuit  rider  through  a  wide  extent  of  fron- 
tier, he  came  into  close  contact  with  an  interesting  re- 
gion during  its  most  picturesque  period.  He  at  length 
drifted  into  journalism,  and  in  1870  he  went  to  New 
York,  where  for  a  time  he  was  editor  of  Hearth  and 
Home.  In  1871  he  published  his  first  novel,  The 
Hoosier  Schoolmaster,  a  work  that  is,  perhaps,  the  fresh- 
est and  most  spontaneous,  though  not  the  most  finished, 
of  all  his  novels.  It  was  a  pioneer  book.  In  1871  the 
vast  wealth  of  material  that  the  West  and  South  were 
to  furnish  to  the  novelist  lay  undeveloped,  almost  un- 
suspected. Bret  Harte's  tales  of  California  were  studies 
of  rough  men  in  a  wild  environment ;  Eggleston's 
novels  dealt  with  home  life  amid  the  privations  and 
restrictions  of  the  remote  frontier.  The  Hoosier  School- 
master was  followed  in  rapid  succession  by  other  novels 
describing  the  same  field,  all  of  them  full  of  quaint 
figures,  boisterous  fun,  and  picturesque  situations.  The 
value  of  these  novels  as  pictures  of  one  phase  of 
American  life  is  great.  Their  author  had  the  true 
pioneer  earnestness,  energy,  and  robustness,  —  qualities 
which  he  displayed  on  every  page. 

It  was  Eggleston's  wish,  however,  to  be  remembered 
as  a  historian.  The  last  years  of  his  life  he  devoted  al- 
most entirely  to  United  States  history.  In  the  preface 
to  his  first  historical  study,  The  Beginners  of  a  Nativz,, 
he  says: 

"  While  the  present  work  is  complete  in  itself,  it  is  also 
a  part  of  a  larger  enterprise,  as  the  half  title  indicates. 
In  January,  1880,  I  began  to  make  studies  for  a  His- 


THE  LATER  NOVELISTS.  437 

tory  of  Life  in  the  United  States.  For  the  last  sixteen  or 
seventeen  years  by  far  the  greater  part  of  my  time  has 
been  given  to  researches  on  the  culture  history  of  the 
United  States  in  the  period  of  English  domination,  that 
'good  old  Colony  time'  about  which  we  have  more  sen- 
timent than  information." 

He  resolved,  therefore,  like  Fiske,  to  make  each  portion 
complete  in  itself.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  had 
issued  two  parts  :  The  Beginners  of  a  Nation,  A  His- 
tory of  the  Source  and  Rise  of  the  Earliest  English  Set- 
tlements in  America,  with  Special  Reference  to  the  Life 
and  Character  of  the  People,  1897;  and  The  Transit  of 
Civilization  from  England  to  America  in  the  Seventeenth 
Century,  1901.  In  these  the  life  of  the  people  is  kept 
constantly  in  mind.  They  are  graphic  and  delightful. 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  The  Hoosier  Schoolmaster. 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON  CABLE  (b.  1844). 

Like  Eggleston  and  Harte  and  Miss  Murfree,  George 
W.  Cable  has  added  a  new  province  to  the  domain  of 
fiction.  Born  in  the  picturesque  old  city  Old  Creole 
of  New  Orleans,  and  forced  by  poverty  at 


an  early  age  to  enter  upon  a  mercantile  s"ne,s' 

J  r  Madame  Del- 

career,   where   he   came   daily  in  contact  phine.   issi. 

.,,  IP  -i          IT  IT  Dr.  Sevier. 

with  people  of  every  class,  he  learned  by 


heart  the  habits  of  life  and  thought  of  the  *° 
Louisiana  Creoles,  a  people  peculiarly  dis-  John  March, 

-  Southerner. 

tinct  and  individual.     His  first   sketches  i89i. 
of   Creole    life,    which,   after    appearing   in    Scribner*s 
Monthly,   were   collected   under  the    title    Old    Creole 
Days,  caused  a  decided  sensation  among  novel  readers, 


438  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

As  with  Miss  Murfree's  sketches,  which  had  just  begun 
to  appear  in  the  Atlantic,  it  was  hard  to  believe  that 
such  characters  and  such  an  environment  really  existed 
within  the  bounds  of  the  United  States.  One  year 
later  there  appeared  the  Grrandissimes,  the  most  power- 
ful American  novel  written  since  the  war,  and  this  was 
followed  in  quick  succession  by  Madame  Delphine  and 
Dr.  Sevier. 

These  three  novels  represent  the  highest  reach  of 
Cable's  literary  achievement,  and  they  form  a  trilogy 
that  has  been  rarely  surpassed  in  American  literature. 
Not  only  do  they  describe  a  strange  people  and  a 
peculiar  social  system,  but  they  display  these  against 
a  background  even  more  strange  and  unreal.  "The 
swamp  country  of  Louisiana,"  says  Cable,  "  is  a  region 
of  incessant  natural  paradoxes ;"  it  is  a  "fretwork  of 
natural  dykes  and  sluices,"  and  "broad  bayous  on 
whose  banks  are  tangled  forests  reeking  with  pestilen- 
tial odors." 

i 

"  From  the  boughs  of  the  dark,  broad-spreading,  live  oak,  and 
the  phantom-like  arms  of  lofty  cypresses,  the  long,  motionless  pen- 
dants of  pale  green  moss  point  down  to  their  inverted  images  in 
the  unruffled  waters  beneath  them.  Nothing  breaks  the  wide- 
spread silence.  The  light  of  the  declining  sun  at  one  moment 
brightens  the  tops  of  the  cypresses,  at  another  glows  like  a  fur- 
nace behind  their  black  branches,  or,  as  the  voyager  reaches  a 
western  turn  of  the  bayou,  swings  slowly  round  and  broadens 
down  in  dazzling  crimsons  and  purples  upon  the  mirror  of  the 
stream.  Now  and  then,  from  out  some  hazy  shadow,  a  heron, 
white  or  blue,  takes  silent  flight,  an  alligator  crossing  the  stream 
sends  out  long,  tinted  bars  of  widening  ripple,  or  on  some  high, 
fire-blackened  tree  a  flock  of  roosting  vultures,  silhouetted  on  the 


THE  LATER  NOVELISTS.  439 

sky,  linger  with  half-opened,  unwilling  wing,  and  flap  away  by 
ones  and  twos  until  the  tree  is  bare." —  The  Creoles  of  Louisiana. 

These  quaint  characters  and  strange  scenes  have 
been  portrayed  by  Cable  with  rare  skill.  He  is  not  a 
cold  realist.  He  describes  with  fulness  and  accuracy, 
yet  he  throws  over  all  his  landscapes  the  mellow  atmos- 
phere of  romance.  His  Creoles  are  drawn  with  patient 
care  from  living  models,  yet  they  are  colored  with  the 
warm  pigments  of  imagination. 

Cable's  power  as  a  novelist  does  not,  as  one  critic 
has  maintained,  "  come  from  his  materials  and  his  work- 
manship." His  novels,  while  masterpieces  of  literary 
art,  were  written  from  the  fulness  of  a  heart  sincere 
and  pure.  They  are  instinct  with  intensity  and  power. 
They  are  not  confined  merely  to  the  surface  of  things. 
Their  roots  reach  down  deep  into  the  aluvium  that 
underlies  all  human  experience.  They  are  dramas 
teaching  with  new  characters  and  strange  scenery  the 
old  lessons  of  human  life.  (See  Vedder's  American 
Writers  of  To-day.) 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  The  Grandissimes ;  "Au  Large"  in 
Bonaventure. 

4.   THOMAS  NELSON  PAGE  (b.  1853). 

"As  Mrs.  Stowewas  the  potent  chronicler  of  the  harsher  side  of 
slave  life,  in  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,  so  Mr.  Page  is  the  faithful  historian 
of  the  kindly  relation  of  master  and  servant  under  the  old  regime."  — 

H.  V.  Washington. 

The  plantation  negro  with  his  curious  dialect  and 
his  grotesque  superstitions  has  furnished,  when  pro- 
jected against  the  rich  background  of  the  days  before 


440  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

the  war,  a  rare  opportunity  for  a  small  group  of  South- 
ern novelists.  As  portrayed  by  such  writers  as  Joel 
Chandler  Harris  (1848-1908)  and  Thomas  Nelson  Page, 
he  became  a  new  character  in  the  world's  fiction. 
Harris,  a  native  of  Georgia  and  for  many  years  the 
editor  of  an  influential  journal,  the  Atlanta  Constitution, 
won  a  well-deserved  fame  with  his  record  of  the  quaint 
philosophy  and  marvellous  tales  of  Uncle  Remus.  No 
more  charming  contribution  has  ever  been  made  to  the 
department  of  folk-lore.  The  author  had  a  lofty  con- 
ception of  his  work,  and  his  unqualified  success  is  evi- 
dence that  he  did  not  fall  far  short  of  realizing  his 
ideal.  "  If  the  language  of  Uncle  Remus,"  he  says  in 
his  preface,  "fails  to  give  vivid  tints  of  the  really 
poetic  imagination  of  the  negro ;  if  it  fails  to  embody 
the  quaint  and  homely  humor  which  was  his  most 
prominent  characteristic;  if  it  does  not  suggest  a  cer- 
tain picturesque  sensitiveness,  —  a  curious  exultation  of 
mind  and  temperament  not  to  be  expressed  in  words,  — 
then  I  have  reproduced  the  form  of  dialect  merely,  and 
not  the  essence,  and  my  attempt  may  be  counted  a 
failure." 

The  leading  novelist  of  the  South  after  George  W.  Cable 
is  THOMAS  NELSON  PAGE  (1853),  of  Virginia,  whose 
first  significant  tale, "  Marse  Chan,"  appeared  in  Scribner's 
Magazine  in  1883.  The  tales  that  followed  this  first 
success,  "Unc'  Edinburg's  Drowndin',"  "Meh  Lady," 
and  others,  which  were  collected  in  1887  under  the  title 
In  Ole  Virginia,  rank  among  the  most  perfect  of  Ameri- 
can short  stories.  Nearly  all  are  tales  of  the  old  days, 


THE  LATER  NOVELISTS.  441 

full  of  sentiment  and  pathos  and  humor,  and  a  charming 
simplicity.  Page  understands  the  Virginia  negro  as 
perfectly  as  Harris  knows  Uncle  Remus,  and  all  of  his 
sketches  are  minutely  true  to  nature  in  every  particular. 
His  novel,  Red  Rock,  1898,  is  distinctly  inferior  to  his 
short  studies.  He  is  at  his  best  with  a  small  canvas. 
He  has  not  always  confined  himself  to  dialect  tales. 
His  sketches,  "  A  Soldier  of  the  Empire,"  and  "  Elsket," 
display  a  prodigality  of  power  unusual  in  later  Ameri- 
can literature. 

SUGGESTED  READING. —  Uncle  Remus;  In  Ole  Virginia; 
«  Elsket." 

5.  JAMES  LANE  ALLEN  (b.  1848). 

James  Lane  Allen's  literary  career  began  in  1891  with 
the  publication  of  a  series  of  sketches  of  the  blue  grass 
region  of  Kentucky.  Since  that  time  he  has  published 
among  others  A  Kentucky  Cardinal,  Flute  and  Violin, 
and  The  Choir  Invisible,  all  throwing  a  soft,  poetic  light 
over  his  native  State.  His  strong  point  is  "  a  blending 
of  realism  and  poetry."  His  simplicity  and  pathos  and 
originality  make  him  one  of  the  strongest  of  the  later 
novelists.  All  of  his  pictures  of  humanity  are  against  a 
minutely-studied  background  of  external  nature. 

Among  others  who  have  done  notable  work  in  the 
broad  field  of  literature  of  locality  may  be  mentioned: 

FREDERIC  REMINGTON  (b.  1861),  who  with  pen  and 
pencil  has  studied  the  wild  corner  of  the  West ;  F.  HOP- 
KINSON  SMITH  (1838),  artist  and  engineer,  who  has 
done  in  his  Tom  G-rogan,  Caleb  West,  and  The  Fortunes 
of  Oliver  Horn,  some  of  the  strongest  work  of  the  past 
decade,  and  JACK  LONDON  (1876),  who  with  a  few 


442  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

stirring  tales  has  made  himself  the  Bret  Harte  of  the 
Alaskan  gold  fields. 

ffl.  THE  ROMANTIC  NOVELISTS. 

The  novelist  of  the  purely  romantic  school  does  not 
seek  to  add  to  the  world's  fund  of  facts  by  making  minute 
studies  of  types  and  environments ;  he  does  not  aim  to 
sharpen  his  reader's  eyes  to  see  more  clearly  the  misery 
and  filth  about  him ;  he  does  not  care  for  the  analysis  of 
character  for  its  own  sake,  nor  for  the  teaching  of  moral 
lessons ;  his  one  thought  is  of  pleasing  his  reader,  of 
complying  with  that  most  natural  of  all  demands, — 
"  Tell  me  a  story."  With  him  a  novel  has  a  beginning 
and  a  middle  and  an  end ;  and  it  deals  with  an  idealized 
life,  one  that  can  for  a  moment  lift  its  reader  from  his 
sordid  surroundings  and  show  him  glimpses  of  the  world 
of  which  he  dreams.  Not  many  of  the  later  novelists 
have  belonged  unreservedly  to  the  romantic  school.  It 
has  been  an  era  in  which  the  study  of  peculiar  environ- 
ments has  received  unusual  attention,  yet  here  and  there 
has  been  found  one  who  has  preferred  to  look  away  from 
the  real  into  a  world  of  his  own  creation. 

EDWAKD  PAYSON  ROE  (1838-1888). 

If  he  is  most  successful  in  literature  who  is  most 
widely  popular,  and  who  exerts  the  most  far-reaching 
Barriers  influence,  then  E.  P.  Roe  must  be  counted 

Burned  Away.    amo       the  most  successful  of  American 

A  Face  Illu-  & 

mined.  novelists.     Howells  and  James,  Cable  and 

Earnest6,8  Craddock,  appeal  to  the  literary  connois- 


THE  LATER  NOVELISTS.  443 

seur,  to  the  educated  and  the  cultured ;  Roe   opening  of  a 

(J nest nut  tiurr. 

is  the  novelist  of  the  great  middle  class  Nature's  Serial 
which  constitutes  the  reading  majority.  ye^r'to 
His  novels  are  singularly  fitted  to  appeal  Nature's  Heart- 
to  the  class  for  which  they  were  written.  Their  author  \ 
was  a  clergyman  who  wrote  his  books  with  a  moral 
almost  a  religious  purpose,  a  fact  that  disarmed  the 
suspicious ;  he  dealt  with  domestic  scenes  and  with 
characters  in  humble  life,  and  he  mingled  sentiment 
and  sensation  with  a  judicious  hand.  His  novels  have 
no  high  literary  merit;  their  style  is  labored,  often 
pretentious,  and  their  plots  and  situations  are  conven- 
tional to  a  degree.  "  Through  struggle  to  victory " 
might  be  given  as  the  motto  of  them  all,  the  victory  in 
each  being  celebrated  with  the  chiming  of  wedding  bells. 
But  despite  their  artistic  defects  these  novels  cannot 
be  overlooked  by  the  literary  historian.  They  have  *s. 
retained  their  popularity  to  a  wonderful  degree,  an,d 
they  have  exerted  no  small  influence  for  good  on  a 
large  audience  that  cares  little  for  more  classic  litera- 
ture. The  earnestness  of  the  author,  his  faith  and 
tenderness  and  deep  conviction,  are  in  all  his  work, 
and  although  his  books  cannot  hope  to  go  down  to 
posterity  with  the  great  works  of  art,  they  must,  never- 
theless, be  counted  among  the  successful  creations  of 
American  literature.  ^^ 

FRANCIS   MARION   CRAWFORD   (1854-1909). 
Few  American  authors,  not   even  excepting   Henry 
James,  have  had  a  more  cosmopolitan  experience  than 


444  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Mr.  Isaacs.  had  Francis  Marion  Crawford.      Born  in 

A  Roman  Italy,  where  his  father,  Thomas  Crawford, 

Zoroaster  one  °^  ^e  greatest  °*  American  sculptors, 

Paul  Patoff.  was  temporarily  residing,  he  was  educated 

fanfiiar*  ^  Harvard,  at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge, 

Don  Orsino.  at  Karlsruhe  and  Heidelberg,  and  at  the 

A^drthei*10'  Universit7  of  Rome.  After  a  wandering 
career,  which  included  several  years  in 
India,  he  finally,  in  1884,  settled  down  for  the  rest  of 
his  life  near  Sorrento,  Italy.  His  first  novel,  Mr.  Isaacs, 
a  romantic  tale  of  India,  appeared  in  1882,  and  from 
that  time  until  his  death  he  produced  novels  at  the  rate 
of  nearly  two  volumes  each  year. 

As  a  novelist  Crawford  stands  midway  between  the 
realists  and  the  idealists.  Some  of  his  novels,  like  Mr. 
Isaacs  and  The  Witch  of  Prague,  are  romances  pure  and 
simple,  while  others,  like  the  Saradnesca  group,  incline 
somewhat  toward  realism ;  but  in  all  his  work  he  has 
freely  mingled  the  romantic  with  the  real.  "Mr.  Craw- 
ford's artistic  creed,"  says  Vedder,  "is  not  complex: 
the  novel  must  deal  chiefly  with  love ;  it  must  be  clean 
and  sweet,  since  its  tale  is  for  all  mankind;  it  must  be 
interesting;  its  realism  must  be  of  three  dimensions, 
not  flat  and  photographic;  its  romance  must  be  truly 
human.  What  he  tries  to  do  is  to  '  make  little  pocket- 
theatres  out  of  words.' " 

Crawford  was  always  an  enthusiastic  and  an  inde- 
fatigable worker.  He  wrote  voluminously,  over  forty 
titles  standing  on  his  list,  and  he  tried  many  fields. 
He  was  at  his  best  in  his  studies  of  the  Italian  life 


THE  LATER  NOVELISTS.  445 

and  scenery  that  he  knew  so  well.  There  is  a  strong 
dramatic  element  about  all  his  best  novels  which  lifts 
them  at  times  into  the  highest  realm  of  literary  art. 
But  he  wrote  often  hastily  and  often  with  conventional 
materials  and  workmanship.  His  place  among  the 
American  novelists  falls  far  short  of  that  predicted  after 
the  appearance  of  Mr.  Isaacs. 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  Mr.  Isaacs,  Saracinesca,  and  The  Novel: 
What  It  Is. 

FRANK  RICHARD  STOCKTON  (1834-1902). 

"  He  is  surely  one  of  the  most  inventive  of  talents,  discovering  not 
only  a  new  kind  of  humor  and  fancy,  but  accumulating  an  inexhausti- 
ble wealth  of  details  in  each  fresh  achievement,  the  least  of  which 
would  be  riches  from  another  hand.  "  —  Howells. 

Frank  R.  Stockton  is  not  easily  labelled  or  classified- 
View  him  from  any  standpoint  and  he  forms  a  class 
of  one.  He  was  distinctively  a  writer  of  Rudder  Grange. 
short  sketches,  yet  he  cannot  be  classed  y  or  the 


with    other    American    writers    of    short  The  Late  Mrs, 

Null. 
stories.    He  was  not  a  realist.    His  sketches  The  Casting 

,    .  ,      .        ,  ,  Away  of  Mrs. 

contain   no   analysis,   they  are   true   to   no  Leeks  and  Mrs. 

.1  i    i  •       i          Aleshine. 

region  as  yet  upon  the  maps,  and  his  char-  The  rjusantes 
acters    are    creations    rather   than    photo-  The  Hundredth 
graphs.    Yet  he  was  really  not  a  romanticist,  The  Bee-Man  of 
for,  while  he  dealt  with  an  idealized  region  ^'  Adv^ntures 
and  people,  his  sketches  have  little  move-  ^Oaptain 
ment    and    almost   no   plot,   and   they  are  And  Others. 
without  sentiment  or  moral.     While  all  of  his  tales  are 
full  of  irresistible  humor,  he  cannot  (like   Browne  and 
Clemens)  be  classed   among   the  American  humorists 


446  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

He  used  neither  irreverence  nor  exaggeration,  —  his 
humor  was  Stocktonesque  rather  than  American. 

Stockton  first  came  into  general  notice  in  1879 
through  his  sparkling  story,  Rudder  G-range,  which 
appeared  in  Scribner's  Monthly.  Shortly  afterwards  he 
published  his  typical  sketch,  "  The  Lady  or  the  Tiger  ?  " 
which  immediately  became  one  of  the  most  famous  of 
short  stories.  From  that  time  until  his  death  he  was 
among  the  best-known  and  most  popular  of  the  later 
American  writers. 

The  distinctive  feature  of  Stockton's  work  consists 
in  its  strangely  real  yet  unreal  personages  and  situa- 
tions. The  author  deals  with  a  world  of  fantasy,  yet 
so  skilfully  does  he  manipulate  his  materials  that  the 
most  marvellous  situations  seem  like  mere  common- 
places. His  tales  are  logical  throughout.  They  con- 
duct the  reader  through  the  most  absurd  situations  and 
the  most  unheard-of  regions  with  absolute  gravity,  and 
the  reader  often  finds  himself  accepting  without  a  mur- 
mur conclusions  which  could  be  true  only  in  a  world  of 
fantasy. 

Stockton's  longer  stories,  like  The  Hundredth  Man 
and  The  Late  Mrs.  Null,  are  of  very  moderate  interest. 
He  is  at  his  best  in  his  short  sketches,  like  <v  Negative 
Gravity,"  "The  Transferred  Ghost,"  and  "The  Remark- 
able Wreck  of  the  Thomas  Hyke."  In  this  peculiar  field 
he  has  had  no  rival. 

Other  Novelists.  —  Only  a  passing  mention  can  be 
given  to  the  majority  of  the  younger  romantic  school. 
Their  work  has  often  been  done  with  surpassing  skill , 


THE  LATER  NOVELISTS.  447 

and  often  it  has  been  received  with  extraordinary  favor 
by  the  public.  Among  the  more  prominent  of  its 
members  may  be  mentioned  LEW  WALLACE  (1823- 
1905),  whose  Ben  Hur,  a  Tale  of  the  Christ,  with  its 
pictures  of  Oriental  life  during  the  first  century,  has 
had  a  greater  popularity  than  any  other  book  written 
since  the  war;  JULIAN  HAWTHORNE  (b.  1846),  a  son 
of  Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  whose  Bressant,  Archibald 
Malmaison,  Idolatry,  and  Sebastian  Strome  are  full 
of  weird  conceptions ;  ARTHUR  SHERBURNE  HARDY 
(b.1847)  whose  epigrammatic  and  finished  romances,  But 
Yet  a  Woman  and  Passe  Rose,  occupy  a  field  by  them- 
selves; HENRY  VAN  DYKE  (b.  1853)  who  writes  most 
delightfully  of  the  Canadian  forests  and  the  French 
habitants;  and  RICHARD  HARDING  DAVIS  (b.  1864), 
whose  tales  like  G-allagher,  Soldiers  of  Fortune  and  Cap- 
tain Maclin  are  full  of  dash  and  charm. 

The  most  recent  phase  of  American  fiction  has  been 
the  sudden  rise  and  enormous  popularity  of  the  historical 
romance.  Following  the  lead  of  Stevenson,  who  in  turn 
followed  Scott,  nearly  all  of  the  novelists  turned  for  a 
time  to  the  romantic  field.  DR.  S.  WEIR  MITCHELL 
with  Hugh  Wynne,  PAUL  LEICESTER  FORD  with  Janice 
Meredith,  and  WINSTON  CHURCHILL  with  Richard 
Carvel,  are  but  the  beginning  of  the  list.  In  the  mean- 
time, EDWARD  NOYES  WESTCOTT'S  David  Harum,  and 
IRVING  BACHELLER'S  Eben  Holden,  simple,  realistic 
tales  of  country  life,  numbered  their  editions  by  the 
hundreds.  At  present  the  tide  of  historical  romance 
seems  to  be  on  the  ebb. 


XXX. 

THE  HUMORISTS. 

American  Humor.  —  The  most  original  literary  achieve* 
ment  of  the  present  period,  the  one  perhaps  that  will 
stand  most  sharply  prominent  when  the  era  fades  far- 
ther into  the  past,  has  been  the  development  of  what 
has  been  called  "literature  of  the  soil."  The  rise  and 
growth  of  the  novel  of  provincial  life  has  already  been 
dwelt  upon;  it  remains  to  consider  one  more  literary 
product  that  smacks  of  the  soil,  —  the  work  of  the 
American  humorist. 

Humor  is  no  new  thing  in  our  literature;  the  first 
real  American  book,  Knickerbocker's  History  of  New 
York,  was  broadly,  irresistibly  humorous,  while  Holmes 
and  Lowell,  and  many  another  of  the  earlier  school, 
were  mirth-makers  of  the  first  order.  Yet  Irving's 
humor  is  of  the  English  type.  It  depends  on  charac- 
terization, on  minute  description,  on  sympathetic  in- 
sight. Holmes'  brilliant  Ion  mots  are  more  French  than 
American.  Lowell,  it  is  true,  caught  the  true  Yankee 
drollery  to  perfection,  yet  his  Hosea  Biglow  does  not 
represent  the  whole  American  people.  While  the  humor 
of  all  these  masters  is  of  an  imperishable  kind,  it  does 
not,  as  a  European  would  say,  have  the  flavor  of  the 
American  soil.  It  remained  for  Artemus  Ward  and  his 

448 


THE  HUMORISTS.  449 

followers  to  interpret  the  true  American  humor,  which, 
while  it  may  be  of  inferior  quality,  is,  nevertheless, 
something  new  under  the  sun. 

The  Americans  are  a  nation  of  jokers.  They  "  take 
a  facetious  view  of  life,"  says  Professor  Boyesen,  "  and 
extract  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  amusement  out 
of  every  situation.  It  is  by  this  trait,  above  all,  that 
Americans  are  differentiated  from  all  other  nations.  It 
is  apt  to  be  one  of  the  first  observations  of  the  intelli- 
gent foreigner  who  lands  upon  our  shores,  that  all 
things,  ourselves  included,  are  with  us  legitimate  sub- 
jects for  jokes.  An  all-levelling  democracy  has  tended 
to  destroy  the  sense  of  reverence  which  hedges  certain 
subjects  with  sanctity,  guarding  them  against  the  shafts 
of  wit."  The  chief  ingredients  of  the  representative 
American  humor  seem  to  be  irreverence,  exaggeration, 
and  a  skilful  mingling  of  incongruities. 

CHARLES  FARRAR  BROWNE,  "ARTEMUS  WARD" 
(1834-1867). 

"The  humorist  who  first  gave  to  the  world  a  taste  of  the  humor 
which  characterizes  the  whole  American  people."  —  Howells. 

The  name  of  Charles  Farrar  Browne  calls  forth  both 
a  smile  and  a  tear.  If  ever  America  produced  a  genius, 
one  who  delivered  his  message  because  it 

•.  .  j  P      . ,       . ,  Artemus  Ward : 

was  in  mm  and  must   come   forth,  then  His  Book. 
Browne  was  the  man.     For  him  the  world  iff*™^?!'* '° 
was  upside  down,  the  incongruous  was  the  Artemus  Ward 

.         in  London. 
real,  and  he  could  no  more  help  saying 

"funny  things"   than    he    could  help   being  himself. 


450  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

Even  his  life  was  full  of  incongruities.  He  wrote  the 
works  that  made  his  name  almost  a  synonym  for  mirth, 
while  the  shadow  of  an  incurable  disease  was  lowering 
darkly  over  him,  and  he  died  with  a  jest  upon  his  lips 
at  the  very  opening  of  his  career. 

The  leading  facts  in  Browne's  life  are  soon  told. 
Born  at  Waterford,  Maine,  in  a  humble  home,  he  early 
turned  for  support,  like  Taylor  and  Howells  and  many 
another  American  author,  to  the  printer's  trade,  which 
he  followed  in  different  capacities  almost  to  the  end  of 
his  life.  He  was  connected  with  various  journals,  both 
as  writer  and  editor,  in  Boston,  Toledo,  and  Cleveland, 
and  finally,  in  1860,  he  drifted  to  New  York,  where  he 
was  for  a  time  connected  with  the  brilliant  but  short- 
lived comic  weekly,  Vanity  Fair.  During  the  last  years 
of  his  life  he  lectured  extensively  both  in  America  and 
England.  His  peculiar  humor  so  captivated  the  British 
that  they  hailed  him  as  "  Artemus  the  delicious,"  and 
even  made  him  one  of  the  editors  of  Punch.  But  he 
lived  only  a  few  months  to  enjoy  his  well-earned 
honors. 

The  distinctive  feature  of  Browne's  humor,  one  that 
characterizes  all  later  American  products  in  the  same 
field,  is  its  seemingly  plausible  situations  and  its  unex- 
pected turns.  "  Artemus  Ward,"  the  proprietor  of  the 
famous  panorama,  did  not  slap  his  knee  and  roar  with 
the  audience ;  but  with  a  serious  face  and  a  somewhat 
melancholy  voice  he  recited  his  story,  with  a  perplexed 
and  surprised  look  when  his  hearers  found  anything  in 
his  remarks  at  which  to  laugh.  His  most  telling  jokes 


TILE  HUMORISTS.  451 

were  told  with  the  utmost  plausibility  when  the  audi- 
ence was  most  completely  off  its  guard. 

Browne  has  added  a  new  figure  to  the  gallery  of 
American  fiction.  His  "Artemus  Ward,"  whom  he 
represented  as  a  droll,  unlettered,  somewhat  coarse 
travelling  showman,  is  as  original  as  "  Natty  Bumppo  " 
and  as  thoroughly  American.  (See  Haweis'  American 
Humorists.) 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  Artemus  Ward  :  His  Travels. 

SAMUEL  LANGHORNE  CLEMENS,  "MARK  TWAIN" 
(b.  1835). 

"  Mark  Twain's  strong  points  are  his  facile  but  minute  observation, 
his  power  of  description,  a  certain  justness  and  right  proportion,  and 
withal  a  great  firmness  of  touch  and  a  peculiar  —  I  had  almost  said 
personal  —  vein  of  humor."  —  H.  E.  Haweis. 

The  work  of  acquainting  the  world  with  "  the  humor 
which  characterizes  the  whole  American  people,"  which 
was  begun  by  Browne,  has  been  continued  innocents 
to  the  present  day  by  Samuel  Langhorne 
Clemens.     He,  indeed,  is  the  representa-  1872- 

,.  LL  ,  ,  7    7      A  •  i     55      TT       The  Adventures 

tive  of  "  the  whole  American  people.       He  of  Tom  Sawyer. 

1  Qfff* 

smacks   strongly  of   the   soil,  not  of   one  A  Tramp 
locality  alone  like  so  many  of  our  writers,  Abroad-    188°- 

**  The  Prince  and 

but  of  the  whole  broad  continent.      Few  the  Pauper. 

,  ,      ,  .     ,  .  1882. 

men  nave  had  a  more  varied  experience.  Life  on  the 
Born  in  a  frontier  town  in  Missouri  at 
a  time  when  that  State  was  in  its  most 


picturesque  phase,  he  passed  his  boyhood  A  Yankee  at 

j  '     .  T      i       A  •      Xing  Arthur's 

days  in  an  environment  peculiarly  Amen-  Court.   1889. 


452  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

can.  After  receiving  a  liberal  education  in  that  most 
practical  of  universities,  a  country  printing  office,  he 
began  while  yet  a  mere  boy  a  wandering  career  as  a 
compositor,  during  which  he  lived  successively  in  St. 
Louis,  Cincinnati,  Philadelphia,  and  New  York.  In 
1851  he  abandoned  the  composing  room,  and  for  the 
next  few  years  was  a  pilot  on  the  Mississippi  River. 
He  next  turned  westward.  He  was  appointed  Secre- 
tary of  the  Territory  of  Nevada  in  1861,  and  during 
the  next  six  years  he  was  successively  an  editor  in 
Virginia  City,  a  miner  in  Nevada  and  California,  a 
reporter  in  San  Francisco  and  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
and  finally  a  lecturer  throughout  California.  In  1867 
he  came  East  again,  published  The  Jumping  Frog  and 
Other  Sketches,  under  the  pseudonym  "  Mark  Twain," 
and  started  on  the  European  tour  that  was  to  make 
him  famous.  Innocents  Abroad,  which  appeared  two 
years  later,  placed  him  at  once  among  the  most  popu- 
lar of  American  writers.  After  a  short  journalistic 
career  he  settled  for  a  time  in  Hartford,  Connecticut, 
but  the  later  years  of  his  life  have  been  full  of  wander- 
ings in  all  continents. 

The  chief  elements  of  Mark  Twain's  humor  are  irrev- 
erence and  exaggeration.  Innocents  Abroad  is  the  very 
antipodes  of  works  like  Pencilling^  by  the  Way.  It  is 
Europe  without  its  haze  of  romance,  as  seen  by  the  cold 
eyes  of  a  Yankee  reporter  to  whom  nothing  is  sacred. 
In  works  like  Roughing  It  and  Life  on  the  Mississippi, 
the  humor  consists  largely  of  exaggeration  which  is 
humorous  because  of  the  extreme  incongruity  of  the 


THE  HUMORISTS.  453 

objects  compared,  yet,  notwithstanding  its  obvious  im- 
possibility and  its  utter  absurdity,  the  author  tells  his 
story  with  such  innocence  and  seriousness  that  it  is 
only  with  a  struggle  that  the  reader  refrains  from 
believing  every  word. 

But  Mark  Twain's  humor  is  not  always  a  mere 
bundle  of  aimless  absurdities.  "  He  is  supposed  to 
lie  like  the  truth,"  says  one  cfitic,  "  yet  in  my  opinion 
he  oftener  speaks  truth  like  lies."  Few  men  hate  cant 
and  shams  more  intensely  than  he.  His  irreverent  jokes 
in  Innocents  Abroad  arose  from  no  lack  of  a  sense  of 
beauty.  There  are  few  more  beautiful  descriptions  in 
our  literature  than  his  well-known  comparison  between 
lakes  Como  and  Tahoe.  His  sarcasm  is  aimed  at  that 
class  of  tourists  who  go  into  raptures  at  the  bidding  of 
the  guide-book  simply  because  it  is  the  proper  thing  to 
do.  Innocents  Abroad  was  a  book  with  a  mission.  It 
cleared  the  atmosphere  of  a  surprising  amount  of  false 
enthusiasm ;  "it  laughed  away,"  says  Vedder,  "  the  sen- 
timental, the  romantic  book  of  travels." 

But  if  Mark  Twain's  jokes,  delightful  as  they  some- 
times are,  were  all  that  were  to  keep  him  from  oblivion, 
be  might  be  ranked  as  only  a  passing  phenomenon.  His 
writings,  unlike  Artemus  Ward's,  are  not  mere  fusillades 
of  jokes.  All  of  his  books  have  a  skilfully  drawn,  even 
delicate,  background  of  description  and  characterization. 
He  would  still  rank  high  as  an  author  had  he  not  writ- 
ten a  single  humorous  passage.  His  graphic  descrip- 
tions of  life  and  scenery  011  the  Mississippi,  in  the 
mountains  and  mines  of  Nevada,  Utah,  and  California 


454  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

during  their  most  picturesque  era,  are  photographically 
true,  in  every  particular.  Taken  for  all  in  all,  he  is 
the  prince  of  entertainers.  He  is  intensely  original. 
He  mingles  boisterous  fun  with  delicate  description, 
broad  characterization  with  skilful  narrative,  and  over 
all  he  throws  the  charm  of  a  rare  personality,  one 
peculiarly  American,  and  as  impossible  to  define  as  is 
the  charm  of  the  Indian  Summer. 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  Innocents  Abroad;  Roughing  It. 

Other  Humorists.  —  Of  the  vast  amount  of  humorous 
literature  that  has  surged  through  the  periodicals  of 
half  a  century,  only  a  very  small  amount  has  been  saved 
from  oblivion.  Professional  humorists  from  the  days 
of  Seba  Smith,  who  lampooned  the  administration  of 
Jackson,  down  to  Burdette  and  Bill  Nye,  have 
abounded,  but  those  who  have  created  fun  and  noth- 
ing else  have  had  for  their  reward  only  a  contemporary 
fame.  Among  the  few  who  deserve  a  passing  mention 
are  HENRY  W.  SHAW,  "Josh  Billings"  (1818-1885), 
who  mingled  with  his  fun  some  very  sound  maxims,  and 
DAVID  Ross  LOCKE,  "Petroleum  V.  Nasby"  (1833- 
1888),  whose  humorous,  satirical  letters  from  the  "  Con- 
fedrit  X  Roads "  were  widely  influential  during  the 
reconstruction  period  following  the  Civil  War. 

THE  ESSAYISTS. 

JOSIAH  GILBERT  HOLLAND  (1819-1881). 

J.  G.  Holland  was  born  in  Belchertown,  Massachu- 
setts, July  24,  1819,  and  was  educated  in  the  North- 


THE  ESSAYISTS.  455 

ampton  high  school.     After  studying  med-  The  Bay  Path. 

icine,  which  he  practised  for  some  years  in  Timothy  Tit- 
Springfield,  he  went  into  the  South;  taught      ^ 


school  for  a  time  in  Richmond,  Virginia, 

and    still    later    was    superintendent    of  1858- 

,       .      1  .          XT'      t_    1  T.T-          •          •  •  TT  MrS' 

Schools    in   Vicksburg,    Mississippi.       Upon  Career.    1860. 

his  return  to  the  North  he  became  con-  ^amiiiarlub^ 

nected  with  The    Springfield  Republican,  i*cts:  1865' 

Jf.  Ctt7*i/Tl(t  •       loOj* 

and  in  1870  he  was  made  editor  of  Scrib-  Arthur  Bonni- 
ners  Monthly,  now  The  Century,  a  position 


which  he  held  until  his  death. 

Many  others. 

Holland's  writings  fall  naturally  into 
three  classes:  poems,  novels,  and  essays  and  papers. 
His  fame  as  a  poet  depends  on  his  long  narrative 
poems,  Bitter  Sweet  and  Katrina,  which,  despite  their 
moralizing  tendencies  and  their  manifest  lack  of  poetic 
inspiration,  were  at  one  time  highly  popular  with  the 
lovers  of  the  sentimental.  His  novels  deserve  more 
careful  attention.  They  are  faithful  studies  of  Ameri- 
can life  and  character.  "None  of  our  writers,"  says 
Richardson,  "better  understood  the  average  national 
heart."  But  Holland  was  not  a  great  literary  artist  and 
he  has  not  portrayed  in  enduring  colors  this  life  which 
he  understood.  He  was  first  of  all  a  moralist.  He  was 
at  his  best  in  his  lay  sermons  to  the  young  and  in  his 
papers  on  familiar  subjects.  The  didactic  and  the  mor- 
alizing are  in  everything  he  wrote,  even  in  his  poems 
and  novels.  His  Timothy  Titcomb  letters  are  excellent. 
Their  style  is  plain  and  homely,  their  subjects  are  often 
commonplace,  yet  they  set  true  ideals  before  the  reader 


456  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

in  such  an  earnest,  honest  way  that  they  can  hardly  fail 
to  impress  and  benefit. 

As  editor  of  an  influential  magazine,  Holland  was  for 
a  time  a  conspicuous  figure.  His  work  was  widely  read 
and  enthusiastically  reviewed,  but  time  seems  to  be 
reversing  the  judgment  of  his  contemporaries,  and  the 
author  has  been  of  late  more  and  more  neglected. 

DONALD    GRANT   MITCHELL    (1822-1908). 

"Mr.  Mitchell  more  truly  than  any  other  American  writer  has  in- 
herited the  literary  tradition  of  Irving's  time  and  school.  There  is 
the  same  genial  and  sympathetic  attitude  toward  his  readers;  the 
,  same  tenderness  of  feeling  ;  and  in  style  that  gentle  elaboration  and 
that  careful,  high-bred  English  which  contrasts  so  strikingly  with  the 
brusque,  nervous  manner  now  in  fashion."  —  Beers. 

Another  author  who  has  appealed  widely  to  lovers  of 
the  sentimental  is  Donald  G.  Mitchell,  whose  Reveries 
of  a  Bachelor  and  Dream  Life,  written  under  the  pseu- 
Reveries  of  a  donym  "  Ik  Marvel,"  have  retained  their 
°'  early  popularity.  They  are  books  for 


1851>  young  men  who  are  inclined  to  look  at 

My  Farm  of  J 

Edgewood.  the  future  through  a  romantic  haze.    They 

Wei  Days  at  "  wear  for  me,"  says  the  author,  "  the  illu- 


fiewoo.  gions    and    the    fleeting?    prismatic    hues 

Dr.  Johns—  (a  which    bubbles    always   wear,  and  which 

novel)  .    18(36.  J 

Old  story-Tell-  youth  is  always  used  to  blow  and  to  fol- 

Lands,  l°w  with  eager  eye  till  the  iridescence  be 

' 


:  law.  gone  and  the  bubbles  too."  It  seems  to 
And  others.  be  an  assured  fact  that  Mitchell  will  go 
down  to  posterity  as  the  author  of  these  two  books,  yet 
from  a  literary  standpoint  they  are  far  below  much  of 


THE  ESSAYISTS.  457 

his  later  work.  They  are  full  of  youthful  exuberance 
and  an  excess  of  color  which  is  toned  down  in  his 
Edgewood  series  and  his  later  sketches.  His  style  at 
its  best  is  singularly  easy  and  graceful.  His  delicate 
transitions  from  humor  to  pathos,  his  stingless  satire, 
his  manifest  refinement,  and  his  dreamy  outlook  upon 
life  combine  to  give  his  style  a  rare  charm.  His  last 
work,  English  Lands,  Letters,  and  Kings,  is  in  many 
respects  his  best.  Its  graphic  pictures  and  accurate 
characterizations  bring  a  new  charm  to  the  old  subject 
of  English  history. 

The  author  resided  during  all  the  later  years  of 
his  life  near  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  on  the  farm 
which  he  made  famous  in  his  Edgewood  series. 

SUGGESTED  READING.  —  Reveries  of  a  Bachelor;  Wet  Days  at 
Edgewood. 

CHARLES  DUDLEY  WARNER  (1829-1900). 

"  Warner  is  chiefly,  one  might  almost  say  always,  the  essayist. 
His  humor  is  not  wit ;  he  pleases  by  the  diffused  light  which  illumi- 
nates his  writings  on  various  themes,  not  by  any  startling  or  sensational 
effect.  American  humor  as  displayed  in  his  masterpiece,  My  Summer 
in  a  Garden,  is  shown  in  its  better  estate.  Warner's  intellectual  kin- 
ship is  with  Irving,  Curtis,  and  Holmes,  not  with  Artemus  Ward  or 
Mark  Twain." — Richardson. 

Charles  Dudley  Warner  was  born  in  Plainfield, 
Massachusetts,  Sept.  12,  1829.  A  delightful  glimpse 
of  his  boyhood  days,  as  well  as  of  the  somewhat  prim- 
itive and  Puritanical  New  England  of  half  a  century 
ago,  may  be  had  in  his  Being  a  Boy,  a  book  which, 
though  written  in  the  third  person,  is  prevailingly  auto- 


458 


AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 


biographical.  The  background  of  the  book  is  the  little 
Massachusetts  town  of  Charlemont,  which  was  the  scene 
My  Summer  in  of  the  author's  life  from  his  sixth  to  his 

a  Garden.  1870.     ,.  .,  ,-,  ~,       , 

fourteenth  year.  From  Charlemont  he  re- 
moved to  Cazenovia,  New  York,  and  in 
1851  he  was  graduated  at  Hamilton  Col- 
lege. During  the  next  nine  years  he  was 
successively  a  surveyor  on  the  Missouri 


In  the  Levant. 

1876. 

Beinq  a  Boy. 
1877. 

In  the  Wilder- 
ness.   1878. 
Captain  John 
Smith.    1881. 
Washington 


Saunterings. 

1872. 

Back-log  Stud- 
ies.   1872. 

Baddeck  and 
that  Sort  of 
Thing.    1874. 
My  Winter  on 

876.  frontier,  a  law  student  at  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  a  practising  lawyer 
in  Chicago.  In  1860  he  was  invited  by 
United  States  Senator  Hawley,  who  had 
been  attracted  by  several  letters  contrib- 
uted by  Warner  to  The  Hartford  Press,  of 
which  he  was  the  proprietor,  to  become  the 
assistant  editor  of  that  paper.  One  year 
later,  in  the  absence  of  his  employer,  who 
went  to  the  front  during  the  war,  Warner 
became  editor  of  The  Press,  and  when,  in 
1867,  it  was  consolidated  with  The  Hart- 
ford Courant,  he  was  made  co-editor  with  Hawley.  He 
resided  during  the  rest  of  his  life  at  Hartford. 

Warner's  first  significant  book,  My  Summer  in  a  Gar- 
den, was  published  in  the  columns  of  The  Hartford  Cou- 
rant in  1870.  It  appeared,  indeed,  during  a  period  of 
notable  beginnings.  The  three  years  from  1869  to  1872 
witnessed  the  publication  of  the  first  novel  by  W.  D. 
Howells  and  of  the  first  significant  work  by  "  H.  H.,'7 
Mark  Twain,  Bret  Harte,  Joaquin  Miller,  Edward 
Eggleston,  and  John  Burroughs.  The  earliest  stars  in 


age.    1886. 
On  Horseback. 
1888. 

A  Little  Jour- 
ney in  the 
World.    1889. 
The  Golden 
House.    1894. 


THE  ESSAYISTS.  459 

the  bright  constellation  of  the  later  writers  were  begin- 
ning to  appear,  and  the  reading  public  was  eagerly  scan- 
ning each  new  light,  conjecturing  if  perchance  it  might 
not  be  a  new  planet.  The  reception  of  My  Summer  in 
a  Garden  was  most  enthusiastic.  The  charming  vein 
of  humor  that  ran  richly  through  the  book  caused  its 
author  to  be  classified  at  once  with  the  humorists.  But 
the  careful  reader  soon  discovered  other  and  even  more 
delightful  features.  The  mellow  atmosphere  of  the 
book,  its  graceful  style  and  its  rare  finish,  are  worthy  of 
Irving,  or,  indeed,  of  Charles  Lamb.  His  next  publica- 
tion, Saunterings,  which  consists  of  his  letters  written 
to  The  Courant  during  a  visit  to  Europe,  was  followed 
by  Back-log  Studies,  a  work  equal  in  merit  to  My  Sum- 
mer in  a  G-arden.  With  these  two  volumes  Warner 
placed  himself  in  the  very  front  rank  of  American 
essayists.  A  delicate  humor  never  too  broad,  an  exqui- 
site fancy  which  hovers  playfully  about  every  figure  and 
allusion,  and  withal  a  firmness  of  touch  which  gives 
constantly  an  air  of  finality  of  decision  and  unshaken 
confidence,  are  found  on  every  page. 

Warner's  next  group  of  books,  the  notes  of  his  travels 
at  home  and  abroad,  differs  from  his  first  essays  only  in 
the  fact  of  their  foreign  background.  My  Winter  on 
the  Nile  and  In  the  Levant  recall  constantly  the  genial 
Howadji.  Neither  Warner  nor  Curtis  wrote  mere 
guide-book  records  of  their  Oriental  journeys.  For  a 
simple  itinerary,  with  names  and  dates  and  typical  epi- 
sodes, one  can  go  to  the  books  of  a  score  of  minor  East- 
ern travellers.  In  works  like  Nile  Notes  and  My  Winter 


460  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

on  the  Nile  we  catch  glimpses,  not  only  of  the  actual 
Egypt  of  to-day,  but  of  the  land  of  the  Nile,  with  its 
dreams  of  the  past  and  its  mellow  atmosphere  of  ro- 
mance. In  his  journeys  through  his  own  land  Warner 
was  still  the  essayist.  He  wrote  enthusiastically  of  the 
new  South,  of  the  magnificent  promise  of  the  great 
West,  yet  these  sketches,  humorous,  finished,  sparkling, 
are  essays  rather  than  books  of  travel. 

One  more  extended  essay  remains  to  be  mentioned, — 
his  sketch  of  the  life  of  Irving.  The  subject  was  one 
for  which  he  was  peculiarly  fitted.  In  Irving  he  found 
an  author  after  his  own  heart,  and  he  has  portrayed  the 
life  of  the  genial  Knickerbocker  with  rare  sympathy 
and  insight. 

Warner,  during  his  later  years,  tried  his  hand  at  fic- 
tion, and  with  considerable  success,  but  while  his  three 
novels,  Their  Pilgrimage,  A  Little  Journey  in  the  World, 
and  The  Golden  House,  show  an  increasing  mastery  of 
the  novelist's  art,  they  are  not  to  be  compared  with  his 
best  work  in  the  field  which  he  made  peculiarly  his  own. 

REQUIRED  READING. — My  Summer  in  a  Garden;  Back-log 
Studies. 

JOHN  BURROUGHS  (b.  1837). 

"  Mr.  Burroughs  is  above  all  the  high  priest  of  the  farm.  Country 
life,  scenes,  sounds,  tastes,  and  smells  are  his  great  interest,  and  in 
writing  of  these  he  strikes  a  chord  which  no  other  prose  writer,  on  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic  at  least,  has  yet  touched." 

One  more  important  characteristic  of  the  present 
period  remains  to  be  mentioned,  —  the  rise  and  develop- 
ment of  the  so-called  out-of-door  school  (p.  227).  This 


THE  ESSAYISTS.  461 

is,  in  reality,  only  a  branch  of  the  great  school  of  writers 
of  "  literature  of  locality  "  which  has  been  the  character- 
izing feature  of  the  era  since  the  war.  The  leader  of 
the  group  has  been,  without  question,  John  Burroughs, 
who,  following  the  path  indicated  by  Thoreau,  has  added 
a  new  interest  to  the  study  of  nature.  It  is  a  hasty 
criticism,  however,  that  classes  Burroughs  merely  as  a 
disciple  of  Thoreau.  He  received,  without  a  doubt,  his 
first  inspiration  from  that  great  opener  of  blind  eyes, 
but  a  close  comparison  of  the  writings  of  each  will  show 
few  real  points  of  similarity.  In  a  sense  Burroughs  is  a 
pioneer  in  his  field.  Thoreau  has  never  been  equalled 
as  a  minute  observer  of  the  phenomena  of  the  woods 
and  fields.  His  pictures  move  before  the  reader  like  a 
series  of  instantaneous  photographs.  He  invites  con- 
stantly to  the  trackless  forest  and  to  primeval  condi- 
tions ;  yet  even  when  lost  with  him  in  the  very  heart 
of  nature  we  never  lose  sight  of  Thoreau,  the  philoso- 
pher, the  mystic,  and  the  reformer.  Burroughs  has 
approached  nature  from  a  different  standpoint.  He  has 
mingled  the  scientific  with  the  poetic,  and,  while  keep- 
ing the  facts  firmly  in  his  grasp,  he  has  humanized  and 
idealized  nature.  Unlike  Thoreau,  he  has  kept  himself 
in  the  background.  He  seldom  moralizes ;  he  is  never 
mystical.  He  delights  in  the  borderlands  between  the 
wild  and  the  civilized;  in  foot-paths,  wild  bees,  birds 
that  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  man,  apples,  cows,  fox- 
hounds, springs,  trout  streams,  and  wild  berries,  It 
pleases  him  to  attribute  to  the  denizens  of  the  forest 
human  motives  and  feelings,  and  to  trace  analogies  even 


462  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

between  the  animate  and  the  inanimate.  Yet,  notwith- 
standing his  playful  fancy  and  his  love  of  the  poetic,  his 
observations  are  all  scientifically  accurate  and  minutely 
faithful  to  nature. 

Often  Burroughs  leads  us  from  the  fields  into  his 

library  and  discourses  charmingly  of  "  Birds  and  Poets," 

of  "  True  Realists,"  of  Whitman,  Carlyle, 

Wake-Robin,        „  ,  ,       .  ,  ,  ..    _., 

1871.  Emerson,  Matthew  Arnold,  and  Thoreau. 


judgments  are  not  always  weighty,  but 
Birds  and  they  are  invariably  fresh  and  delightful. 
Locusts  and  In  whatever  field  he  enters,  he  opens  new 

Wild  Honey.  . 

Pepacton.  tlWMfc 

Fresh  Fields.          From  1864  until  1873  Burroughs  was  a 
clerk  in  the  Treasury  Department  in  Wash- 


Indoor  Studies.  ington  ;  from  1873  until  1884  he  was  an  ex- 

aminer of  National  Banks  in  New  York. 

Since  1884  he  has  devoted  himself  to  Nature  study  on 

his  farm  at  West  Park,  New  York,  and  to  literary  work. 

REQUIRED  READING.  —  Wake-Robin  ;  Birds  and  Poets  ;  Locusts 
and  Wild  Honey. 

THE  LATER  HISTORIANS. 

The  great  school  of  American  historians  led  by  Pres- 
cott  and  Motley  has  been  succeeded  by  another  almost 
as  brilliant.  Never  has  there  been  a  time  when  history 
has  been  written  more  carefully  or  in  greater  quantity. 
The  early  history  of  America  in  all  its  phases  and  locali- 
ties has  been  studied  with  such  extreme  care  that  few 
unexplored  fields  remain  for  the  historian.  So  high 
have  the  standards  become  in  this  department  that  a 


THE  LATER  HISTORIANS.  463 

history,  to  gain  the  attention  of  readers,  must  possess 
extraordinary  merits.  From  the  scores  of  really  emi- 
nent historians  of  this  later  group  only  a  few  can  be 
selected  here  for  prominent  mention. 


JUSTIN  WINSOR  (1831-1897). 

The  impersonation  of  the  modern  methods  of  dealing 
with  history  was  Justin  Winsor,  from  1877  until  his 
death  librarian  of  Harvard  College.  Taking  as  his  field 
the  early  history  of  North  America,  he  ransacked  all 
possible  sources  of  material,  sparing  no  labor  in  gather- 
ing old  maps  and  charts  and  reports,  in  preparing  exhaust- 
ive bibliographies,  and  in  indicating  sources  of  materials. 
He  was  editor  of  the  important  Narrative  and  Critical 
History  of  America,  1883-89.  His  most  important  orig- 
inal works  are  his  Christopher  Columbus :  how  he  Received 
and  how  lie  Imparted  the  Spirit  of  Discovery  ;  The  Mis- 
sissippi Basin:  the  Struggle  in  America  between  England 
and  France,  and  The  Westward  Movement :  the  Struggle 
for  the  trans-Allegheny  Region,  1763-1797.  Not  only 
are  these  works  exceedingly  rich  in  the  materials  for 
history,  but  they  are  philosophical  and  literary  as  well. 
They  throw  a  new  and  somewhat  startling  light  upon 
Columbus  ;  they  show  the  great  influence  that  the  phys- 
ical geography  of  the  continent  has  had  upon  its  his- 
tory, and  they  picture  with  a  firm  hand  the  causes  and 
the  results  of  the  Franco-English  struggle  in  America. 
Dr.  Winsor's  style  is  precise  and  forcible,  and  his  histo- 


464 


AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 


ries  are  valuable  not  only  as  works  of  reference,  but  as 
literary  creations. 

JOHN  FISKE  (1842-1901). 


ophy.   1874. 


John  Fiske,  a  native  of  Hartford,  Connecticut  ;  and  a 
graduate  of  Harvard  University,  won  a  leading  place 
Myths  and  both  as  a  philosopher  and  a  historian.  His 

Myth-Makers.         ,  .,  ,  .      .         ...  . 

1872.  philosophical  writings,  since  by   Webster  s 

Outlines  of  Cos-   definition  they  do   not  belong   strictly  to 

mic  Philos-  J  fc>  j 

the  realm  of  literature,  need  not  be  con- 
sidered  here.     They  interpret  the  philoso- 

1879>  phv  of  Herbert  Spencer,   and  their  great 

Excursions   of     ^   J  r 

an  Evolution-      value  is  shown  from  the  fact  that  so  pro- 

•    j  -|  QQO  •*• 

The  Critical       found  a  thinker  as  Charles  Darwin,  after 

Period  of  reading    Outlines    of    Cosmic   Philosophy. 

American  His-  J  r   ff* 

tory.  1888.  wrote  to  the  author,  "  I  never  in  my  life 
ning?oflNew  read  so  lucid  an  expositor,  and  therefore 
England.  thinker,  as  you  are." 

During  his  later  years  Fiske  made  a  spe- 
cialty  of  American  history.     At  the  time 

of  his  death  he   had   covered  in   a   series   of 


The  American 
1891°  m 


of 

18 


892-  careful  studies  the  most  important  phases 

1897.  i?flrm          of  early  American  history  up  to  the  time 
Dutch  and          of  the  adoption  of  the   Federal   Constitu- 

Quaker  Colon- 

ies.   1899.  tion.     The  books  should  be  read  in  this  or- 

der  :  ^?he  Discovery  of  America,  with  Some 
Account  of  Ancient  America  and  the  Span- 
ish Conquest  ;  Old  Virginia  and  Her  Neighbors  ;  The  Be- 
ginnings of  New  England,  or  The  Puritan  Theocracy 
in  its  Relations  to  Civil  and  Religious  Liberty  ;  The 


1902- 


THE  LATER  HISTORIANS.  465 

Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies  in  America;  New  France 
and  New  England;  The  American  Revolution;  The 
Critical  Period  of  American  History,  1783-1789. 

As  a  historian  Fiske  was  distinguished  not  only  for 
his  mastery  of  materials  and  his  general  accuracy,  but 
for  his  philosophic  insight,  his  breadth  of  view  and  his 
lucid  and  brilliant  literary  style.  He  was  a  philosopher 
writing  history ;  he  strove  constantly  to  trace  the 
great  fundamental  principles  which  underlie  the  devel- 
opment of  American  civilization  and  national  character. 
Yet  his  histories  are  not  dry,  lifeless  arguments ;  they 
are  full  of  vivid  pictures  and  they  are  interesting  even  to 
those  who  care  little  for  their  philosophy. 

During  the  greater  part  of  Fiske's  life  he  was  con- 
nected with  Harvard  University  either  as  a  student, 
lecturer,  assistant  librarian,  or  overseer.  After  1879  he 
devoted  himself  almost  entirely  to  lecturing  and  writ- 
ing, making  his  home  at  Cambridge. 

Other  Historians.  —  The  American  historian  during 
all  periods  has  devoted  himself,  with  few  exceptions,  to 
American  themes,  and  as  a  result  the  history  of  the 
United  States  during  every  period  since  the  memorable 
voyage  of  Columbus  has  been  treated  with  great  care. 
The  labor  expended  by  some  of  these  historians  has 
been  marvellous.  Herbert  Howe  Bancroft  (b.  1832)  has 
filled  forty  volumes  with  the  history  of  the  Pacific  coast, 
while  Henry  Adams  has  filled  nine  volumes  with  the 
history  of  the  administrations  of  Jefferson  and  Madison. 
Among  the  best  known  of  the  other  later  historians  are 
Samuel  Adams  Drake  (b.  1833),  who  has  written  enter- 
SB 


466  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

taininglj  of  The  Making  of  New  England  and  The  Mak- 
ing of  the  Great  West ;  James  Schouler  (b.  1839),  who 
has  furnished,  with  his  History  of  the  United  States  from 
1783  to  1861,  a  valuable  study  of  a  most  important 
period,  and  John  Bach  McMaster  (b.  1852),  who  is 
covering  the  same  period  with  a  History  of  the  People  of 
the  United  States,  a  work  which  promises  in  accuracy  of 
statement  and  brilliancy  o'f  style  to  become  the  stand- 
ard history  of  the  period.  Among  the  historians  of 
American  literature  only  three  merit  special  attention: 
E.  C.  Stedman  has  been  already  considered ;  Charles 
Francis  Richardson  (b.  1851),  with  his  scholarly  and 
graceful  survey  of  the  American  writers,  has  made 
himself  the  standard  historian  of  our  literature ;  and 
Moses  Coit  Tyler  (1835-1900),  with  his  more  compre- 
hensive work  which  covers  only  the  Colonial  and  Rev- 
olutionary era,  produced  a  history  which,  since  within 
its  limits  it  is  exhaustive,  is  of  the  greatest  value  to  the 
student  of  the  early  writers. 

Viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  our  recent  historical 
product,  the  future  of  American  history  seems  bright 
indeed.  Other  literary  fields,  however,  seem  to  be 
lying  in  the  shadow.  "  Just  now,"  says  Edgar  Fawcett, 
"  it  is  surely  the  twilight  of  our  American  novelists." 
There  is  a  "  twilight  of  the  poets,"  says  Stedman,  "  suc- 
ceeding to  the  brightness  of  their  first  diurnal  course." 
But  the  dusk  has  not  yet  gathered  about  our  historians. 
Who  shall  say  that  Stedman  is  not  right,  that  the  dark- 
ness over  the  rest  of  our  literary  firmament  is  not  the 
sure  promise  of  a  new  morning? 


INDEX. 


INDEX. 


Abbott,  Jacob  F.,  420. 
Adams,  Charles  Francis,  82. 
Adams,  Henry  (b.  1838),  16,  465. 
Adams,  John,  69,  82. 
Adams,  John  Quincy,  82,  85. 
Adams,  Samuel,  67,  68. 
Addison,  D.  D.,  95,  405. 
Alcott,  Amos  Bronson,  201,  208, 

212,  228,  229. 

Alcott,  Louisa  M.,  198,  229,  230. 
Aldrich,  T.  B.,  365-375,  425. 
Alhambra,  .The,  122. 
Allen,  James  Lane,  441. 
Allston,  Washington,  167,  257. 
Alsop,  Richard,  98. 
Ames,  Fishwives. 
Ames,  Mary  Ciemmer,  404. 
Anthology  Club,  209. 
Antislavery,  203,  324. 
Astor,  John  Jacob,  125,  166. 
Atlantic  Monthly,  281,  291,   375, 

387,  397,  409,  412,  418,  426, 427, 

429,  433,  434. 
Austin,  Jane  G.,  18,  415. 
Austin,  G.  L.,  326. 
Austin,  Mary,  98. 
Autobiographies,  59, 108, 148,  425. 

Bacheller,  Irving,  447. 
Ballad,  The,  264,  340. 
Bancroft,  George,  9,  16,  17,  196, 

199,  244,  266,  311-313,  344. 
Bancroft,  H.  H.,  465. 
Barlow,  Joel,  96,  97,  113,  154. 
Bartol,  C.  A.,  220,  229. 
Baskervill,  W.  M.,  389. 
Bay  Psalm  Book,  27,  34,  45. 


Beecher,  H.  W. ,  330. 
Beecher,  Lyman,  330. 
Beers,  H.  A.  (b.  1847),  50,  90,  11} 

129,  429,  456. 

Bellows,  H.  W.  (1814-1882),  204. 
Benton,  T.  H.  (1782-1858),  106. 
Berkeley,  Sir  William,  14. 
Bigelow,  John  (b.  1817J,  54,  156, 

159. 

Bird,  E.  M.,  150. 
Bishop,  W.  H.  (b.  1847),  373. 
Blanchard,  Edmund,  172. 
Boker,  G.  H.,  351. 
Bolles,  Frank,  227. 
Bowdoin  College,  242,  260. 
Boyesen,  H.  H.  (1848-1895),  449. 
Bradford,  William,  17,  29. 
Bradstreet,  Anne,  35. 
Brainerd,  J.  G.  C.,  170. 
Briggs,  Charles  F.,  172. 
Brook  Farm,  200. 
Brooks,  C.  T.,  204. 
Brooks,  Maria  G.,  170. 
Brown,  E.  E.,  274,288. 
Brown,  Charles  B.,  101,  103-106, 

111,  134. 

Brown,  S.  G.,  188. 
Brown,  John,  324,  348. 
Brown  University,  24. 
Browne,  C.  F.  ("Artemus  Ward  "), 

449-451. 

Brownell,  H.  H.,  346. 
Brownson,  O.  A.  (1803-1876),  229. 
Bryant,  W.  C.,  74,  113,  115,  116, 

148,  154,  155-163. 
Buckminster,  J.  S.,  36,  207. 
Bunner,  H.  C.,  376. 


469 


470 


INDEX. 


Burdett,  K.  J.,  454. 

Burroughs,   John,   218,   221,  223, 

341,  376,  381,  383,  458,  460-462. 
Butterworth,    Hezekiah,   68,    195, 

259. 

Cable,  G.  W.,  437-439. 

Cabot,  J.  E.,  208-217. 

Cairns,  W.  B.,  110. 

Calhoun,  John  C.,  187,  191,  192. 

California,  394. 

Callaway,  Morgan,  389. 

Cambridge,  Mass.,  257. 

Campbell,  Helen  S.,  35. 

Carey,  Edward,  327. 

Carleton,  Will,  394. 

Carlyle-Einerson   Correspondence, 

186,  211. 
Carter,  Kobert    (1819-1879),  203, 

290. 

Cary,  Alice,  403,  404. 
Cary,  Phoebe  (1824-1871),  403. 
Catherwood,  Mary  H.,  421. 
Century  Magazine,  375,  393,  437, 

455. 
Chadwick,  John  W.  (b.  1840).  236, 

287. 

Chalmers,  George,  75. 
Chamberlain,  Mellin,  185. 
Channing,  William  Ellery,  4,  36, 

199,  202,  204-207,  259.    - 
Channing,  William  Ellery,  2d,  221, 

235. 
Channing,    William    Henry,   201, 

202,  204,  229,  230,  235,  276. 
Chapman,  J.  J.,  208,  376. 
Cheney,  Edna  D.,  230. 
Child,  Mrs.,  18,  74,  195,  336,  420. 
Choate,  Kufus,  188,  189,  241. 
Church,     Benjamin     (1734-1776), 

154. 

Churchill,  Winston,  74,  447. 
Clark,  W.  M.,  376. 
Clarke,  James  Freeman,  202,  207, 

229,  230,  276. 

Clay,  Henry,  187,  190,  327. 
Clemfens,     Samuel     L.     ("Mark 

Twain"),  425,' 451-454,  458. 
Clifton,  William,  154. 
Cobbett,  William,  75. 


Colton,  Calvin  (1788-1857),  190. 
Concord,  Mass.,  202,  209,  221. 
Constitution  of  the  United  States, 

78. 
Conway,  Moncure  D.  (b.  1832),  75, 

208. 

Cooke,G.  W.,  208. 
Cooke,  John  Esten  (1830-1886),  11, 

16,  83. 

Cooke,  Rose  Terry,  415. 
Cooper,  James  Fenimore,  74,  104, 

128,  134,  135-147,  195. 
Cooper,  Susan  Fenimore,  145. 
Cotton,  John,  46. 
Cox,  Daniel,  63. 
"  Craddock,  C.  E."  (see  Miss  Mur- 

free). 

Cranch,  C.  P.,  195,  202,  236. 
Crawford,  F.  M.,  443-445. 
Curtis,   George  T.  (b.   1812),  132, 

184. 
Curtis,  George  W.,  117,  126,  156, 

200,  204,  236-239,  314,  459. 


Dana,  C.  A.,  200,  234,  236. 
Dana,  R.  H.,  Ill,  168. 
Dana,  R.  H.,  Jr.,  152,  169,  192. 
Dartmouth  College,  24,  185,  188, 

277.      . 

Davis,  Jefferson  (1808-1889),  348. 
Davis,  Rebecca  H.,  421. 
Davis,  Richard  Harding,  447. 
Dawes,  AnnaL.,  328. 
Dean,  J.  W.,  36. 
Deland,  Margaret,  421. 
Demiie,  John,  111. 
Dewey,  MaryE.,  147. 
Dewey,  Orville,  207. 
Dial,  The,  202,  228,  232,  405. 
Donaldson,  Thomas,  376. 
Dowden,  Edward,  376. 
Drake,  J.  R.,  163-165. 
Drake,  S.  A.,  17,  108,  195,  466. 
Draper,  J.  W.  (1811-1882),  348. 
Dunlap,  William  (1766-1839),  103. 
Duyckinck,  E.  A.  (1816-1878),  98, 

114,  195. 

Dwight,  Sereno,  49,  95. 
Dwight,  Theodore,  98. 


INDEX. 


471 


Dwight,  Timothy,  91,  95,  96,  111, 
154, 196. 

Eames,  Wilberforce,  27. 
Eastburn,  James  W.  (1797-1819), 

336. 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  25,  48-51. 
Eggleston,  Edward  (435-437),  16, 

392,  458. 

Eggleston,  George  C.  (b.  1839),  92. 
Eliot,  John,  27,  33. 
Ellis,  George  E.  (b.  1815),  35,  269, 

305. 

Emerson,  Edward  W.,  208. 
Emerson,  R.  W.,  74, 192, 195,  196, 

200,  201,  202,  205,  206,  208-220, 

226,  230,  324,  347,  462. 
Everett,  Alexander,  72,    119. 
Everett,  Edward,  54, 124, 184, 191, 

192-194,  199,  238,  257. 

Farnham,  C.  H.,318. 
Fawcett,  Edgar,  375,  466. 
Felton,  C.  C.  (1807-1862),  258. 
Field,  Eugene,  394. 
Fields,  James  T.  (1816-1881),  240. 
Fields,  Mrs.  James  T.(b.  1834),  408. 
Finch,  F.  M.  (b.  1827),  346. 
Fisher,  George  P.  (b.  1827),  8,  9. 
Fiske,  John,  10,  12,  17,  40,  51,  66, 

77,  78,  87,  318,  437,  464,  465. 
Follen,  Charles  (1796-1840),  229. 
Foote,  Mary  H.,  418. 
Ford,  Paul  L.,  54,  74,  78,  447. 
Foster,  Stephen  C.,  391. 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  25, 39, 43,  53- 

61,  63,  75,  80. 
French,  Alice  ("Octave  Thanet"), 

418. 

Freneau,  Philip,  98-101,  111,  154. 
Frothingham,  O.  B.    (1822-1895), 

66,  198,  200,  234,  235. 
Fuller,    Margaret,   195,    196,  200, 

202,  212,  230-234,  247. 

Garland,  Hamlin,  4. 
Garrison,  W.  L. ,  325,  326. 
Gay,  Sidney  H.  (1814-1888),  85. 
Gilder,  R.  W.,  375. 
Gill,  W.  F.,  172. 


Godfrey,  Thomas,  54. 

Godwin,  Parke  (b.  1816),  156,  158. 

Goodrich,  S.  C.  ("Peter  Parley"), 
(1793-1860),  93,  94,  95,  129,  251. 

Gould,  R.  A.,  33. 

Grant,  U.  S.  (1825-1885),  348. 

Greeley,  Horace  (1811-1872),  138, 
2£0,  231,  233,  348,  353. 

Green,  Joseph  (1706-1780),  154. 

Grimke,  A.  H.,  325,  328. 

Griswold,  R.  W.  (1815-1857),  172, 
349,  353. 

Guernsey,  A.  H.  (b.  1825),  208. 

"H.  H."  (see  Helen  Hunt  Jack- 
son). 

Hale,   Edward   Everett,    54,   288, 

425,  432,  433. 

Halleck,  Fitz-Greene,  163,  165, 
167. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  86-88. 

Hamilton,  John  C.,  86. 

Hampden-Sidney  College,  24. 

Hannay,  James,  172. 

Hardy,  Arthur  Sherburne,  447. 

Harper's  Magazine,  238. 

Harris,  Joel  Chandler,  439.    . 

Harrison,  J.  A.,  173. 

Harte,  F.  B.,  395-400,  436,  458. 

Harvard  University,  23,  37,  69,  70, 
167, 193,  197,  204,  209,  222,  259, 
276,  280,  290, 306,  311,  314,  318, 

426,  463,  465. 
Haweis,  H.  R.,  551. 
Hawthorne,  Julian,  230,  240,  255, 

447. 
Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,  26,  31,  32, 

34,  45,  47,  48,  67,  101,  102,  177, 

180,  196,  200,  212,  240-256,  367, 

447. 

Hay,  John,  349. 
Hayne,  Paul  H.,  386-388. 
Hayne,  Robert  G.,  186.  388. 
Hedge,  F.  H.  (1805-1890),  258. 
Henry,  Patrick,  71-73. 
Higginson,  T.  W.,  103,  217,  230, 

255,  257,  259,  434. 
Hildreth,  Richard,  9,  196,  305. 
Hill,  D.  J.,  113,  156. 
Hillard,   G.    S.    (1808-1879),     16, 

194,  256. 


472 


INDEX. 


Holland,  J.  G    454-456. 
Holmes,  Abiel  (1763-1837),  275. 
Holmes,  0.  W.,  31,  50,  74,  195, 

196,  201,  203,  213,  218,  274-287, 

314,  344,  448. 
Honeywood,  St.  John  (1763-1798), 

154. 
Hopkins,  Lemuel  (1750-1801),  98, 

154. 

Hopkins,  Samuel  (1721-1803),  49. 
Hopkinson,    Francis    (1738-1791), 

154. 

Hopkinson,  Joseph  (1770-1842),  93. 
Hosmer,  J.  K.  (b.  1834),  51,  67. 
Howard,  Blanche  W.,  421. 
Howe,  Julia  Ward,  231,  346. 
Howells,   W.    D.,    392,    425-428, 

445,  449,  458. 
Humor,  American,   448. 
Humphreys,    David    (1752-1818), 

98,  164. 
Hutchinson,  Gov.  Thomas,  51,  52. 

Immigration,  107. 
Independent,  The,  416,  436. 
Ingram,  John,  172. 
Inventions,  109. 
Irving,  Pierre  M.  (1803-1874),  113 

125. 
Irving,  Washington,  81,  108,  112- 

127,  155,  167,  262,  448. 
Irving,  William  (1766-1821),  114 

Jackson,    Helen    Hunt,    405-408 

458. 

James,  Henry,  240,  429-432. 
James,   Henry,    Sr.    (1811-1882) 

429. 

Jameson,  J.  F.,  311. 
Jay,  John,  88. 
Jefferson,  John,  83-85. 
Jenkins,  J.  S.,  191. 
Jewett,  Sarah  O.,  415,  416,  417. 
Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies 

10,  68,  106,  200. 

Johnson;  Oliver  (1809-1889),  325 
Jones,  S.  A.,  221. 
Juveniles,  251,  420. 

Kennedy,  John  P,  74,  W 150, 175 


Kennedy,   W,    S.,   259,  274,  334, 

376. 

Key,  Francis  Scott,  171. 
King,  Thomas  Starr  (1824-1864), 

342. 

King's  College,  24. 
Kittredge,  Walter,  347. 
Knickerbocker    History    of    New 

York,  111,  115,  116,  448. 
Knowles,  J.  0.,  33. 

Lanier,  Sidney,  386,  389-391. 
Lanman,  Charles  (b.  1819),  184. 
jarcom,  Lucy,  404. 
Lathrop,  G.  P.  (b.  1851),  240. 
Lawrence,    Eugene    (1823-1894), 

83,  142. 

jazarus,  Emma,  411. 
Leather-Stocking  Tales,  141. 
Leggett,     William     (1802-1840), 

148. 

Leland,  C.  G.,  352. 
Liberator,  The,  325. 
Lincoln,  A.,   259,   278,  297,   347, 

348,  393. 

Linton,  William  J.  (b.  1812),  334. 
Livermore,  T.  S.,135. 
Locke,  David  Boss,  254. 
Lodge,  H.  C.   (b.   1850),  9,  45,  86, 

184. 

London,  Jack,  441. 
Longfellow,  H.  W.,  4, 18,31, 48,74, 

127,  259-273. 
Longfellow,  Samuel,  259. 
Loring,  G.  B.,  240. 
Lossing,    B.    J.   (1813-1891),    66, 

118,  348. 
Lounsbury,  T.  R.   (b.   1838),  135, 

140,  141. 
Lowell,  J.  K.,  10,  37,  81,110,  127, 

132,  138, 145,  172,  195,  204,  220, 

221,  224,  240,  257,  259,288-301, 

347,  368,  448. 
Lyric  Poetry,  371. 

McMaster,  J.  B.,  55,72,  78,466. 
Madison,  James,  85,  99. 
Manse,  The  Old,   209,   2U,  212, 
244, 


INDEX. 


473 


Marshall,   John   (1755-1835),   81, 

86. 

Martyn,  Charles,  326. 
"Marvel,  Ik"  (see  D.  G.  Mitchell). 
Marvin,  A.  P.,  45. 
Mather,  Cotton,  45-48. 
Mather,  Increase  (1639-1723),  45. 
Mather,  Richard  (1596-1669),  27, 

45. 

Mather,  Samuel  (1706-1785),  45. 
Matthews,     James     Brander    (D. 

1852),  135,  146. 
Mellville,  Herman,  152, 153. 
Miller,  Joaquin,  400,  401,  458. 
Miller,  Olive  Thorne,  227. 
Mitchell,  D.  G.,  456,  457. 
Mitchell,  S.  Weir,  74,  447. 
Monroe,  James,  88,  107. 
Moore,  Frank,  66,  92. 
Morris,  G.  P.,  130,  171. 
Morris,  Gouverneur,  88. 
Morse,  J.  T.,  Jr.  (b.  1840),  54,  83, 

86,  274. 

Morse,  James  H.  (b.  1841),  400. 
Morton,  Nathaniel,  32. 
Morton,  Thomas,  31. 
Motley,  J.  L.,  32,  249,  313,  314- 

381,  326. 

Moulton,  Louise  C.,  421. 
Mudge,  Q.  A.  (1813-1888),  33. 
Murfree,  Mary  N.,  418-420. 

"  Nasby,  Petroleum  V."  (see  D.  R. 

Locke). 

Neal,  John,  148,  149. 
Neilson,  Joseph,  188. 
Newspaper,  The,  43. 
Nicholson,  M.,  435. 
Nicolay,  J.  G.,  349,  393. 
Norton,  Andrews,  207. 
Norton,    Charles  Eliot   (b.    1827), 

208,  288,  291. 
Nye,  Edgar  W.  (b.  1850),  454. 

Ohio  Valley,  391. 

Otis,  James,  68-70. 

Our  Young  Folks,  404,  434. 

Page,  Thomas  Nelson,  439,  440. 


Paine,  Robert  Treat  (1773-1811), 

93,  154. 

Paine,  Thomas,  65,  75-77. 
Palfrey,  John  G.,  17,  21,  305,  336, 

339. 
Parker,  Theodore,  198,  201,  202, 

207,  235,  324. 
Parkman,   Francis,  40,   108,  318- 

323,  333. 

Parsons,  T.  W.,  301. 
Parton,  James  (1822-1891),  54,  58, 

83,  131,  133, 138,  190,  231. 
Pattee,  F.  L.,  98. 
Paulding,  James  K.,  108, 114,  127- 

129,  148,  149. 

Paulding,  William  Irving,  127. 
Payne,  John  Howard,  171. 
Peabody,  Elizabeth  P.  (1804-1894), 

229. 

Peabody,  A.  P.,  207. 
Penn,  William,  63. 
Pennsylvania,  38,  53,  84,  352,  358. 
Percival,  James  G.,  170. 
Perry,  Nora,  411. 
Phelps,  Elizabeth  Stuart,  413-416. 
Phillips,  Wendell,  203,  239,  326- 

328. 

Physical  Geography,  12,  21,  463. 
Piatt,  John  J.,  392,  426. 
Piatt,  Sarah  Morgan,  411. 
Pickard,  S.  T.,  334. 
Pierce,  Benjamin,  241,  276. 
Pierce,  E.  L.,  328. 
Pierce,  Franklin,  243. 
Pierpont,  John,  168. 
Pike,  Albert  (1809-1891),  347. 
Poe,  Edgar  A.,  101,  132,  148,  150, 

165,  172-182,  195. 
Pollard,  E.  A.  (1828-1872),  348. 
Prescott,    William    H.,    102,    103, 

122,  147,  150,  204,  241,  306-310. 
Preston,  Margaret  J.,  386,  410. 
Princeton  University,  23,  50,  99. 

Quincy,  Edmund,  71. 
Quincy,  Josiah,  70,  83. 
Quincy,  Josiah,  2d,  70. 

Randall,  H.  S.,  83. 

Randall,  James  R.  (b.  1839),  347- 


474 


INDEX. 


Randolph,  John,  328. 
Randolph,  T.  J.,  38. 
liead,  T.  B.,  346,  351. 
Realism,  424. 
Remington,  Frederic,  441. 
Richardson,  C.  F.,  4,  33,  48,  163, 

268,  346,  405,  432,  455,  457,  466. 
Riley,  James  W.,  394. 
Ripley,  George,  200,  202,  234,  258. 
Rives,  William  C.  (1793-1868),  85. 
Robbins,  Royal  (1787-1861),  171. 
Robertson,  E.  S.,  259. 
Roe,  E.  P.,  442,  443. 
Romance,  101,  179,  250. 
Roosevelt,  Theodore  (b.  1858),  108, 

393. 

Root,  G.  F.  (1820-1895),  346. 
Rowson,  Susanna  (1761-1824),  147. 
Russell,  Irwin,  391. 
Rutgers  College,  24. 

Salt,  H.  S,  221. 

Sanborn,  F.  B.  (b.  1831),  220. 

Sands,  Robert  C.  (1799-1832),  148. 

Salem,  Mass.,  241,  306. 

Sargent,  Epes  (1812-1880),  190. 

Schoolcraft,  Henry  R.  (1793-1864), 

268. 

Schouler,  James,  466. 
Sehurz,  Carl  (b.  1829),  190. 
Scrihner's  Monthly,  437,  446. 
Scudder,  Horace'  E.  (b.  1838),  81, 

272,  288,  352. 

Sedgwick,  Catherine  M.,  147,  148. 
Seton,  Ernest  Thompson,  227. 
Sewall,   Jonathan   M.   (1748-1808), 

92. 

Sewell,  Samuel,  44. 
Seward,    William     Henry     (1801- 

1872),  83. 

Shaw,  Henry  ("Josh  Billings"),  454. 
Sheridan,  P.  S.,  349. 
Sherman,  W.  T.,  348. 
Short  Story,  The,  179,  423,  428. 
Sigourney,  Lydia  H.,169. 
Simms,  W.  G,  1&  76,  151, 152,  386. 
Sketch  Book,.  The,  117. 
Smith,  Capt.  John,  16,  17. 
Smith,  Seba  (1792-1868),  454. 
Smith,  Sydney.  110. 
Smith,  S'.  F.  (1808-1895),  276. 


Smith,  F.  Hopkinson,  441. 

Smyth,  A.  H.,  352. 

Sonnet,  The,  236,  373,  388,  407. 

South,  The,  13,  385. 

Spanish  Themes,  119,  393. 

Sparks,  Jared,  64,  81,  170,  194,  196, 

205,  305,  319. 
Spofford,  Harriet  P.,  412. 
Sprague,  Charles,  169. 
Sprague,  W.  B.,95. 
Sprinqfield  Republican,  The, £55. 
Standish,  Miles,  32. 
Steclman,  E.  C,  90,  173,  259,  288 

333,  351,  359,  360,  364-369,  390, 

392,  395,400,422,466. 
Stephens,     Alexander    H.     (1812- 

1883),  348. 

Stevenson,  C.  J.,  103. 
Stevenson,  R.  L.,  221,  376,  447. 
Stockton,  Frank  R.,  445,  446. 
Stoddard,    Elizabeth    Barstow   (b. 

1823),  362. 
Stoddard,  R.  H.,  110,  156, 172, 173, 

178,  240,  242,  259,  342,  351,  357, 

360-364. 

Story,  Joseph  (1779-1817),  5,  302. 
Story,  W.  W.,  302. 
Stowe,  Calvin  E.  (1802-1886),  330. 
Stowe,    Harriet    B.,  203,    330-333, 

415,  452. 

Sumner,  Charles,  203,  326,  328-330). 
Swift,  Lindsay,  200. 
Smyington,  A.  J.,  156. 
Symonds,  A.  J.,  376. 

Taylor,  Bayard,  151,  161,  163,  166, 

230,  351-360,  395. 
Taylor,  Marie  H.,  352. 
Tenney,  Tabitha  (1762-1537),  147. 
Thaxter,  Celia,  408> 
Thomas,  Edith,  411. 
Thompson,  Daniel  P.  (1795-1868), 

74. 
Thompson,    Maurice     (1844-1901), 

227. 
Thoreau,  H.  D.,  221-227,  408,  461, 

462. 
Ticknor,  George   (1791-1871),  262, 

305,  306. 

Timrod,  Henry,  387. 
Todd,  Charles  B.,  96. 
Torrey,  Bradford  (b.  1843),  227. 


INDEX. 


475 


Tourge'e,  Albion  W.,  408. 
Transcendental  Club,  228. 
Transcendentalism,  198-200,  201. 
Traubel,  H.  L.,  376. 
Trentj  W.  P.,  151. 
Trowbridge,  J.  T.,  434,  435. 
Trumbull,  Jonathan,    93,   94,   111, 

154. 

Tucker,  George  (1775-1816),  83. 
Tuckerman,  H.  T.  (1813-1871),  131, 

149,  274. 

Tudor,  William  (1779-1850),  69. 
"Twain,  Mark"  (see  S.  L.  Clemens). 
Twitchell,  J.  H.,  30. 
Tyler,  Moses  Coit,  5,  28,  48,  65,  72, 

93,  96,  466. 

Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,  330,  337,  408. 
Underwood,  Francis  H.  (1825-1894), 

75,  82, 129, 193,  206,  259,  288,  300, 

314,  334. 

Unitarianism,  197. 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  23. 

Van  Dyke,  Henry,  446. 

Vedder,  Henry   C.,  423,   435,  444, 

453. 
Verplanck,  Gulian  C.  (1786-1870), 

195. 

Vers  de  Socie'te',  372. 
Very,  Jones,  236,  241. 
Virginia,  10. 
Von  Hoist,  H.,  191. 

Wallace,  Lew,  447. 

Ward,   Mrs.  H.  D.  (see   Elizabeth 

Stuart  Phelps). 
"Ward,  Artemus"  (see  Browne,  C. 

F.). 

Ward,  W.  H.  (b.  1835),  389,  416. 
Ware,  Henry,  207. 
Ware,  Henry,  Jr.,  207,  209. 
Warner,  C    D.,  16,  113,  266,  425, 

452,  457-460. 

Washington,  George,  79,  81,  82. 
Webster,  Daniel,  85,  184-188. 
Webster,  Fletcher,  184. 


Webster,  Noah  (1758-1843),  1. 

Wells,  W.  V,  67. 

Wendell,  Barrett,  45. 

West,  C.  N.,  389. 

West,  The,  391. 

Westcott,  Edward  Noyes,  447. 

Whipple,  E.  P.   (1819-1886),   148, 

253,  299,  308,  317. 
White,  Greenough,  45,  99,  172. 
Whitman,  Sarah    H.    (1803-1878), 

172. 
Whitman,  Walt,  108,  351,  376-384, 

462. 

Whitney,  Adeline  D.  T.,  420. 
Whittaker,  Alexander,  15. 
Whittier,  J.  G.,  31,  45,  48,  171,  196, 

272,  333-344,  353, 404. 
Wiggles  worth,  Michael,  36. 
Wilde,  Richard  H.  (1789-1847),  171. 
Wilkins,  Mary  E.,  415. 
William  and  Mary,  College  of,  23. 
Williams  College,  157. 
Williams,  Roger,  19,  33,  240. 
Willis,    N.  P.,    129-133,   172,   175, 

181,  195,  353. 
Wilson,  Forceythe,  346. 
Wilson,  Henry  (1812-1875),  348. 
Wilson,  James  Grant  (b.  1832),  156, 

163, 165. 

Winslow,  Edward,  17. 
Winsor,  Justin,  2»7,  66,  463. 
Winter,  William  (b.  1836),  189,  236. 
Winthrop,  John,  24,  30,  31,  442. 
Winthrop,  Robert  C,,  30,  149. 
Wirt,  William  (1772-1834),  71,  150. 
Witchcraft  Delusion,  42,  44,  46. 
Woodberry,  George    E.   (b.  1855), 

173,  177,  240. 
Woodbury,  C.  J.,  220. 
Woodworth,  Samuel,  171. 
Woolson,  Constance  F.  (1848-1894). 
Worcester,  Joseph  (1784-1865),  242. 

Yale  University,  23,  50,  94,  95,  96, 

97,  130,  136, 168 
Young,  C.  A.  (b.  1834),  274. 
Youth's  Companion,  133. 


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